Roughwing Gargoyles
by Desslock3
Summary: A human becomes a gargoyle and gets a new chance to live his life right.
1. Chapter 1

AN: I wrote this about eight years ago, never finished it. Let me know what you think, and if you leave a review I will respond.

"Hey partner, what's new in the world? Marvin the Martian or the Loch Ness monster come by yet?" Elisa Maza asked Matt Bluestone as they ascended the steps of the police office where they worked.

"Sure poke fun at me, see if I care." Matt replied in that calm and cool tone of his. "But did you hear about what happened downtown today?"

"Nope, spent most of the day napping, so tell me."

"Don't tell me you spent all night out with your friends again?"

"Not all night."

"You're worse than some college girls I know."

"Know?" Elisa said with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"What? Just because I'm in my thirties you think I don't get the woman anymore? But anyway there are reports of a monster in the area, a winged one at that. It was on a wild rampage earlier today. They say it looked like a gargoyle."

"Ha ha, you had me going for a minute there, but a gargoyle, come on, in the middle of daylight?"

Meanwhile as the two police officers were talking, across the city a different exchange was going on.

The good thing about drug addicts is that as long as they get a few dollars they don't ask questions, Terry thought as he waited in the shadows.

After all the excitement that he had caused earlier it was probably best if he laid low for a while.

Just then the addict that Terry had hired came around the corner.

"Well where is the money?" Terry asked.

"It didn't work."

"What didn't work?"

"Your numbers man, they didn't work, said no such customer."

At that Terry grabbed the addict and started tearing through his clothes, searching to see if he had taken the money from his account and then decided to lie to Terry. No such luck all he found was the ATM card he had given him.

Flinging him down Terry stormed off all the while yelling and muttering.

How could this be happening? He thought, Am I losing my mind? How the hell is it that all evidence of me being human is disappearing?

"At first I didn't believe it myself, but we had some pretty credible witnesses and some blurry photos that do look like a gargoyle was part of that disturbance downtown today." Elisa said as she briefed the rest of the clan on the day's events.

"That is interesting." Growled Goliath.

"I don't think he is a real gargoyle, he is probably a mutant like my brother Talon."

"That wouldn't be possible." Interrupted David Xantos.

"What makes you so sure?" Shot back Goliath.

"Because I know exactly how many mutants were created."

"Or you know exactly how many your willing to tell us you created." Shot Elisa.

"Please detective, you act as though you don't trust me." Xanatos replied in his usual sarcastic way.

"Lets just say your track record is less than perfect." Elisa replied.

"At any rate it appears that no one knows who this new gargoyle is, assuming he is a gargoyle. What I propose is this, I will send out some of my steel clan to do a recon of the city. Once they find this new gargoyle then will alert you Goliath and allow your clan to deal with him."

"Deal with him, you make it sound as though we are to clean up some kind of mess." Replied Goliath.

"Not in the least Goliath, all I'm implying is that who else is best suited for first contact with a new gargoyle than fellow gargoyles."

"Hmmmm, I suppose you are right Xanatos. We will fly in pairs and spread out. Remember how the mutants first reacted."

"On one hand they were just spoiling for a fight." Said Lexington.

"And on the other they were scared half to death." Added Brooklyn.

"Exactly my point," Interrupted Goliath. "Who knows how they may react, so be careful and be ready for anything."

The night was warm and clear, a rarity in New York City, but a welcome change just the same. His wings fully outstretched Terry sought to make use of the thermal updrafts to stay aloft. He was still trying to get the hang of this flight thing. Although he was parachute qualified and had taken some lessons in hang gliding and para-sailing, this was quite different. Catching the updraft from a building Terry was lost in thought and almost didn't see the object coming in his direction until it was on top of him.

"Oh shit" Terry muttered as he broke hard left to avoid a collision. Having folded his wings in for a tighter turn radius Terry found that he had lost all his lift and momentum and was now falling.

Flaring his wings he managed to bring himself to a semi controlled landing on a near by building.

"Nice landing, about as good as you're flying."

"Who asked you smartass?" Terry shot back.

Stepping out from the shadows a gargoyle approached Terry.

"I'm Brooklyn, we've been looking for you the past couple of days."

"We who, and why?"

"My clan. We heard the news reports about the little rampage you made downtown. That was a surprise to us, we thought we knew all the gargoyles in New York."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I'm not a gargoyle."

"Umm, have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"I know what I look like, but I tell you I'm not a gargoyle."

Just then another figure came swooping down to join them.

"Good work lad, you found our missing gargoyle."

"This is Hudson" Brooklyn said, "But I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it."

"Then may I ask what it is?"

"My name is Terry"

"Well Terry" said Hudson "now that we have all been introduced, would you be liking to join us at the castle, the rest of the clan would be interested in meeting you."

"That's all right, but I'd rather not," replied Terry

"Lad your out here by yourself, I think it would be better if you came and spent the day with us. Just so you can get some rest, you look pretty tired."

Meanwhile, four stories below, a different situation was forming. A hostage situation that had an entire city block holding its breath.

"So you want to evict me do? Do you?! Well I just dare you to try it." Shouted a man in the middle of the street.

Using his car as cover, Sgt Harris of the NYPD crouched down as he reached for his radio to make contact with his headquarters element.

"Headquarters, this is Sgt Harris, how long until my back up gets here?"

"Back up was dispatched ten minutes ago, they should be arriving any minute."

"Roger, I have them in sight now."

Having parked their van around the corner to avoid being spotted by the perpetrator, three men piled out and began to work their way through the media and onlookers. Two minutes later they finally made their way through the last of the crowd in the streets and came across the on scene commander crouched behind his car.

"Sgt. Harris, I'm Sgt. Shoemaker from the SWAT team. What's the situation?"

"Glad you guys are here. The city is evicting everyone from the apartment that it condemned last week. Our friend out there is less than happy about it. Right now he's holding half the block hostage with that hand grenade in his hand."

"Alright. I'll get a sniper in position, once he's set I'll try to negotiate with the man."

"What's the matter coppers, had to call for back up, can't finish what you started. Well I can!"

With that the man pulled the pin from the grenade and held it for a second before tossing it aside. With his other hand still holding the grenade so that all his fingers held down the secondary safety he began to slowly approach the crowd.

"Ah crud, we can't shoot him now, he'll just drop the grenade and it will go off. Any ideas Sgt. Shoemaker." Asked Sgt. Harris.

"Yeah this." Shouted Sgt. Shoemaker as he sprinted to the deranged man. Grabbing the hands that held the grenade, Sgt. Shoemaker was able to wrestle it away from the man. But when Sgt. Shoemaker looked at the grenade now in his hands, he saw a terrifying sight. Both the pin had been pulled, and the secondary safety called the spoon had popped up.

With a sudden rush of adrenaline, he brought his arm back and hurled the device to the top of an abandoned building.

Even if Sgt. Shoemaker had known that the grenade he threw was pushing fifty years in age, he would not have known that over the years moisture had seeped in to it and made not only the fuse inoperable, but the explosives inside had become unstable. Thus instead of detonating in the air like they were supposed to, they instead detonated as soon as they hit the roof. Which just happened to be occupied by three gargoyles.

"You don't know anything about tired" said Terry, "and this from a gargoyle who sleeps during the day….."

The explosion of the grenade cut off the rest of Terry's statement. The blast succeeded in not only peppering his back with shrapnel, but the blast propelled him forward towards the other two gargoyles.

Running to where Terry lay face down Hudson and Brooklyn were meet by a worrisome site. Terry was barely moving, and his back was bleeding badly.

"Its hours until day, we've got to get him back to the castle," Hudson shouted to Brooklyn. "Here, give me a hand lad."

With that each gargoyle wrapped an arm around their shoulder and jumped off the edge of the building and headed towards the castle.

7:00am May 16th 1996, read the clock on David Xanato's computer. Good as time as any to go visit the doctor about our visitor he thought to himself. With that Xanatos stood up form his desk and began to walk down one of the many hallways of the castle. Then it hit him, right in the nose, an odor he hadn't smelled in years, but one that brought back a lot of memories. Taking a detour toward the kitchen, David had every intention of finding out what was cause of it. Rounding the corner he came face to face with a scene that was absolutely comical.

Sitting there at the table was his son Alexander arms waving wildly in the air as he attempted to feed him self some oatmeal. Unfortunately more of it than not was landing out side of his mouth. His attempts at drinking juice was apparently not much more successful.

Standing only a few feet away was his wife, trying to cook eggs, toast, oatmeal, and take care of her son all at once. Smiling wide, David thought she sure did look cute with her apron on, her hair a mess, and constantly trying to keep an eye on Alexander.

"Good morning dear. What's for breakfast?"

Taken by surprise, Fox twirled and tried to present a warm smile.

"Why David, how nice of you to join us this morning. As for breakfast, if you want to find out than you had better help your son with his there."

"You had but only to ask." David said in that charmingly sarcastic way of his. But he did take a mental note to spend most of the morning with his family. He could check up on his visitor later. Not like he was going anywhere.

"How is our patient doing?" asked Xanatos as he idly spied the time, eleven o'clock.

"Incredible, I've never seen anything like it. Here it is the middle of the day and he hasn't turned to stone." Replied the doctor.

"Now that is interesting." Admitted Xanatos. "Any ideas?"

"Well Brooklyn said he kept claiming not to be a gargoyle."

"Anything else?"

"Yes for a while he was muttering something, most of it was unintelligible, but I was able to make out the words Rainbow 6, Hathcock, gook, and America's school."

"Hmmm, I'll have Owen look in to it. Other than that how is he?"

"He's stable, and looks like the first real sleep he's had in a few days."

"Curiouser and curiouser, to quote Alice" Xanatos threw over his shoulder as he walked out of the room.

Seeing that his employer had returned from lunch, Owens picked up the small pile of paper on his desk as he prepared to brief his boss.

"I have the information you requested Mr. Xanatos." Owen said in his usually prim and proper way.

"What do you have for me then?"

"Gook is a slang term for North Vietnamese communist during the Vietnam war, Hathcock was the most successful sniper during the war. Rainbow 6 is an elite commando unit in the United States Army; most of what they do are considered black ops. As for America school, the closet thing I came up with was the school of the Americas, used to help train elite units of South and Central American militaries."

"I see." Putting his hands together to from a pyramid David asked "your opinion?"

"They are all references to the military, he may have been in the military. But that is hard to do as a gargoyle, especially in the 1960's and 1970's."

"As a gargoyle yes, perhaps there is something to his claiming not to be."

"Sir?" Owen asked in that way that was both statement and question at the same time.

"I'll need to speak to Hudson and Brooklyn when they awake."

"Of coarse sir."

Awaking with a start, Terry looked around as he took in his surroundings. Not knowing where he was, or how he had even gotten there, made him feel quite uncomfortable. Sitting up slowly, so as too ease the grogginess in his head, something caught his attention. Looking down at his arm, it had some IV tubes in it, along with some other devices attached to other parts of his body.

Removing these proved easier than finding his clothing, after looking for several minutes, Terry gave up and slowly walked out in to the hallway. Turning to the right, he began to wander further down the hallway, looking for an exit of some kind, any kind. And then he found one.

Staggering in to a large room that looked like a kitchen, Terry was suddenly aware of how hungry he was. Deciding to sit for a moment until his dizziness passed, he almost didn't notice the figure in front of him with its back turned.

Humming softly as she prepared a salad, Angela had heard the sound of someone sitting down behind her. Figuring it was probably Broadway, she ignored him while placing the last few pieces of pineapple on the salad. Over the past few months he had been putting on some weight, so diet time. There, pretty as a picture, she thought.

"Glad to see you came to have breakfast….." The rest of her sentence died on her lips as she turned around and saw who had come to breakfast.

"You're that gargoyle that Hudson and Brooklyn brought in last night. What are you doing here? Hey are you all right? You don't look so good."

Weakly holding up a hand to stop her stream of questions, Terry managed to get only a few words out before passing out and nose diving to the table.

"Goliath we have a problem." Xanatos announced as he interrupted the gargoyle's reading of All Quiet on the Western Front.

"What problem?"

"Our guest from last night is missing. The external security system hasn't been tripped yet, so he must be some where in the castle."

"Why should that be a concern to us?"

"Because unlike you, he didn't turn to stone and heal completely."

"How is that possible?" Asked Brooklyn.

"Its sorcery." Added Hudson.

"Regardless of the cause, he must find him. We will need to split up."

"Angela was headed for the kitchen, I'll check there." Broadway said as he took off for the kitchen.

"I'm sure that's the only reason he's going there." Brooklyn whispered to Lexington.

"Hudson, you and Lexington start from the top and work down, Brooklyn, you and I will start at the bottom and work up."

Oh my goodness, Angela thought as she looked down at Terry. His backside was a large red spot where blood had seeped through the white bandages. Sitting him up in the chair, Terry's eyes fluttered a little before his head slumped forward. Hesitating for a moment, Angela finally made a decision.

Struggling with the dead weight of his body, Angela attempted to carry Terry back to the castles medical center. Stopping for a moment to catch her breath, the sight of Broadway running down the hallway towards did wonders to motivate her.

"Angela, are you ok?" Broadway urgently asked.

"Broadway, you've got to help him. Please. He's dying." Angela almost pleaded.

Looking at the unmoving face on the stranger, and the amount of blood that was on both him and Angela, Broadway did not doubt her words.

"Put an arm over your shoulder, we'll be able to move faster if we both carry him."

Two hours later, the clan was gathered in the courtyard of the castle as they discussed the events of the evening. Xanatos and Goliath were trading almost accusing remarks while Hudson and Lexington debated whether science or sorcery was the cause. As for Angela, she had been able to get cleaned up and put on a fresh set of clothing, but inside she was still shook up.

"It was so scary. He just fell over and, and his back was covered in blood." She said as Broadway sat with an arm around her, trying to comfort her.

"I've never seen a gargoyle die before. I was so sure he was going to die, right there in my arms."

"Angela, its ok, you helped to save him. If you had just left him he might not have survived."

"I know, but I can't put it out of my mind. All that blood, it felt so warm, so sticky. I can still feel it on me." As Angela rubbed a hand down her arm as if to remove the imaginary blood.

"Like blood is the only sticky thing she's ever had on her." Brooklyn muttered to himself.

"I thank you for helping me while I am recovering from my wounds for the past month." Terry said to Goliath as the two walked around one of the walls of the castle. The fact that Goliath had chosen to walk on the outside near the ledge so that Risk was on the inside had not gone unnoticed by him.

"You are more than welcome to stay here as long as you like." Goliath said in a somber tone.

"I'm sorry but I have already made up my mind about it, as soon as I am fully healed I intend to take my leave. Unless some of the ladies here have been begging you to twist my arm to stay." Terry said with a smirk that not for the first time reminded Goliath of Xantos.

"I assure you that is not the case."

"I didn't think so. Then just why is it you keep trying to convince me to stay?"

"It is in your best interest. Whether or not you know it or even like it, you're a gargoyle now, and that means the world will treat you like one. A gargoyle alone against the world is a sad sight, trust me. Besides, even though you have been with us for the past few weeks, we know little about you."

"It may be, but I keep telling you, I am not a gargoyle. Sooner or later I will find proof that I was a person. Who or what ever is trying to erase me can't make every record disappear."

"And just what makes you think that someone or thing is trying to remove all records of you as a human?"

"Because I have seen it. It is a very disturbing thing when you see information about you disappear before you eyes."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that, my bank accounts are gone, social security number someone else has, even my drivers license card is blank. All the spaces where my personal info would go is empty."

As they spoke, Terry dug in too his pocket and produced his wallet. Opening it up, he removed a piece of plastic and handed it to Goliath.

"This is, or was my drivers license, depending on how you look at it. As you can see, all of the information about me is gone, it's a driver's license from New York, but there is no information about me as a person it. Only blanks."

Placing his drivers license back into his wallet, Terry looked Goliath square in the face.

"Say or think what you want, but I will not be deterred from my quest."

"I still say it is a foolish quest, but I will wish you luck."

"Goliath, every morning, or night in your case, you wake up and know who you are. You know who your friends are, who cares about you, and who doesn't. Now imagine of all that has been taken from you in a single night. What would you do?"

With out even waiting for an answer, Terry turned from Goliath and walked down a set of stairs to the courtyard below. As Terry walked through the courtyard a familiar voice filled his ears from his left.

"Terry lad, Xantos tells me that you've had some combat experience. I thought there was something about you that seemed like a solider."

"Yeah, he's right Hudson. But I haven't been a soldier in some time, close to fifteen years now."

"That doesn't change what's inside a warriors heart. Where all have you been in combat?"

"Lets see, my first action was during Operation Market Garden. I still wonder how I survived that one. I also saw action at both Pusan and Inchon in Korea. Did a few tours of duty in Vietnam."

"My friend Robbie was in that conflict, maybe you two could trade stories."

"That sounds good. Lets see, I also did some covert work in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America. So I guess really I've been all over the place."

"Covert work? What do you mean by that lad? Didn't you fight any battles there?"

"Ahh Hudson, you are truly an old soldier at heart. I did my covert work when I worked for the CIA. They do all their missions in secrecy. Little things like assassinations, kidnapping, and insurgency. All the things you dislike about fighting in the modern world."

A couple of nights later, Terry was watching tv with Angela, Lexington, Broadway, and Bronx.

"Not a bad episode of ER, now who wants to watch Jerry Springer?" Terry asked.

"No way." Lexington said.

"Gag, not on your life." Angela added as she tossed an empty soda can at Terry.

Soon Terry found himself being pelted with pillows, soda cans, pretzels, and other various items.

"All right you guys win." Terry said as he surrendered the remote and his spot on the couch. Deciding to work out a little, Terry began to make his way towards the gym when he ran in to Brooklyn.

"Hey Terry", Brooklyn called out.

"Yeah?"

"Whether or not you stay here is up to you, and I'm not going to try and convince you one way or another. But as long as you're here you should practice defending your self, especially now that you're a gargoyle and your not used to it."

"That does sound like a good idea."

"Great, follow me and I'll show you our training room."

Ten minutest later Terry and Brooklyn were standing in side a large windowless room deep inside the castle.

"We'll start with something easy, just you and me sparring on the ground."

"That should be easy enough" Terry said, sort of smiling for the first time in weeks at the thought of some hand to hand combat.

Walking about ten paces away Brooklyn turned to face Terry.

"Anytime your ready."

With that Terry quickly covered the distance between them and managed to catch Brooklyn off guard, allowing him to land a punch that actually did more to hurt Brooklyn's ego than this face. Putting up his left arm as a shield Brooklyn fended off several more blows and managed to land a couple of blows himself.

Undeterred by this, Terry pressed his attack and soon had Brooklyn in a headlock. Twisting his body, Brooklyn began to slip out of his opponent's grasp but then found himself with an arm wrapped around his stomach. Terry used his free arm to grab one of Brooklyn's arms and pin him to the floor.

"I win." Terry said in triumph.

Whipping his tail around Terry's neck gave Brooklyn the chance to break free. He then ran to a wall, jumped on it, then pushed off to glide back the way he came from to land a powerful punch. After landing Brooklyn looked at the unmoving body of his opponent.

"You ok, Terry. Yo man, you with me?"

Hearing nothing Brooklyn got closer. To close he realized as an arm shot out and grabbed his foot and yanked it out from under him. In an instance Terry was on top of him landing blow after blow. With a howl Brooklyn shoved Terry off of him with brute force and charged him. Dodging several blows Terry finally counter attacked and landed a foot to Brooklyn's mid section, followed by a sharp blow to the head.

"Like I said, I win"

Rolling on his back, Brooklyn decided not to force the issue this time and just sat up slowly instead.

"That was some pretty mean stuff you did there, I'm going to be sore for a while. But you've got to get better at using your wings."

"Look if I wanted to go airborne I would have stayed in the 82nd airborne division."

"You sure seem determined not let the issue of you being human die."

"No I'm not."

"Are you sure that you can even prove that you had a life before?"

"Why do you sound so doubtful, you're starting to sound like Goliath."

"Well we have see something like this before, someone determined to reclaim what was never there. And in the end all it did was make her a shell full of hate."

"What do you mean?"

"Well there is a gargoyle somewhere out there in the world. She lives alone because she can't accept a simply truth, the good old days never existed."

"Wait, I don't follow where you're going with this. I mean sure we all sometimes look to the past with rose colored glasses, but you make it sound like this person is totally out of touch with reality. Like they are living a fantasy past."

"Your more right than you know, her name is Demona, and she is Angela's mother and was Goliath's mate."

"Mate? You mean wife?"

"If that's what you want to call it, but in the old days we didn't practice marriage ceremonies in quite the same way humans did, or do for that matter. But that's beside the point. Unfortunately, Demona thinks that everything good in her life was been stolen away from her. And she means to have her revenge. In fact that's about all she lives for."

"Yeah, I see how that can be a problem, and why you say she is just an empty shell full of anger. But by the way your talking about her it sounds like you have some mixed feelings about her."

"We have our differences." Brooklyn's voice going extremely cold.

Whoa, judging by how quickly and completely his mask fell, there is obviously a lot more to that story than he's telling me Terry thought.

"Well, regardless of what ever problems she may have caused its still sad that she would spend her life on revenge instead of creating a new life for herself. But then again revenge doesn't hurt as much." Said Terry.

"What do you mean revenge doesn't hurt as much? What do you know about revenge being empty?" asked Brooklyn, his mask sliding back into place.

"Trust me, I know from experience. I suspect you've had a taste of it too."

"Well think what ever you want to, but at least I don't go around trying to kill people because I'm angry."

"Yeah it is sad that's what she carries in her heart. But its what she feels she has to do, sort of like me."

Deciding to change topics since this line of arguments wasn't working, Brooklyn pressed on.

"So have you swapped any war stories with Hudson yet?"

"Actually yes I have, and with his friend Robbie to. Seems both of us were near Saigon during the Tet offensive.

Making their way to the kitchen, Brooklyn and Terry continued their conversation as they reached for a couple of cold drinks. As they sat to enjoy their sodas, Brooklyn turned on the radio. As they chatted a familiar song drifted from the radio.

_Here I go again on my own, going down the only road I've ever known. Like a drifter I was born to walk alone._

"Look Terry, tell me truthfully, is there really any chance of you staying with the clan."

"No there really isn't. It isn't that I don't appreciate what you guys have done for me. But I just don't feel like staying here and settling down."

_Cause I know what it means, to walk along the lonely street of dreams._

_Here I go again on my own, going down the only road I've know, like a drifter I was born to walk alone._

Looking out over New York City Terry figured now was as good a time as any. At least with it being daylight he didn't have to listen to Goliath or the rest of the clan try to convince him to stay. Although he would miss some of them, Brooklyn has kind of fun to hang out with, Lexington was good conversation, as was Angela, Broadway was a decent cook, and Hudson sort of reminded him of his own grandfather, plus the smartass antics of Xantos were amusing. But Terry knew he had to leave, he didn't fit in here, didn't want to.

I may not find the answers I look for, but I have to try, he thought to himself as he mentally reread the letter he had left for the clan. If nothing else they deserved that, they did really care about him, and it would be wrong to just leave them hanging by taking off with out saying goodbye.

Standing at the ledge of the battlement, Terry hesitated for a moment in thought before stepping back down. Instead he walked up to the highest battlement where Goliath slept.

"I don't know if you can hear me or not Goliath, but thank you for all your clan has done to try to help me. I appreciate it, I really do. But I must find out what happened to me. Don't worry, I explained it all in my letter, but I couldn't leave with out saying goodbye, that would just be bad manners."

With that Terry jumped off the ledge and glided out over the city following the sun.


	2. Chapter 2

Gliding over West Virginia, Terry felt more peaceful than he had in a while. Two months after leaving New York City, he was no closer to figuring out how or why he had been changed. But that wasn't the main thing on his mind right now, what was on his mind was finding a place to spend the night. A cave would do nicely, someplace that he could build a fire, stretch out as he slept, and didn't have to pack away his houch in the morning.

As the moon came out from behind some clouds a shadow fell across Terry and stayed there. I'm being followed, Terry thought, but by whom? Executing a half roll so that he was facing skyward, Terry soon saw that the shadow came with a gargoyle attached to it. _Time to meet the neighbors_, Terry thought, as he slowly ascended. However, the gargoyle tailing him suddenly dove for the ground and disappeared in the trees. Taking chase, Terry also dove for the forest below hoping to not lose sight of his target. Landing in a small clearing he froze and listened for several seconds. The sound of cTerryets, owls, and possibly a wolf filled Terry's ears, so did something else, something mechanical sounding. Falling backwards like a scene out of the Matrix, the bullet missed Terry by mere inches.

"#$!" Terry said as he rolled four or five feet before hopping over a log. Waiting a full minute with out any other shots being fired, Terry began to breathe a little easier. After all those tours of duty in Vietnam and in Central America, to almost be taken out like this, Terry laughed to himself. Carefully using trees as cover, Terry leap frogged away from the area until he was sure it was safe.

Leaping off from a tall tree into the air allowed him to continue his search, although if things continued the way they had been going, then there was little luck of success.

Hours later, after covering several miles, Terry let out a yawn and began to look for a place to get some rest. At least the numerous abandoned mines in the area provided several good caves for him to sleep in. Spotting what looked like a good one Terry glided down to take a look. After inspecting it and determining that it would meet his needs for a while Terry decided to get some sleep before continuing onward. Now that it was early September the weather was starting to get cold, so even a small cave would seem like a four-star hotel right about now.

Finally awaking from his power nap, Terry opened his eyes to see a gun pointed only a few inches from his face. His eyes followed the gun to see who was behind it.

"Who are you? Who sent you?"

"The name is Terry, and you are?"

"Did they send you?"

"They who?"

"The government or the army?"

"The government, army? Do you mean the US government and Army?"

At that the unknown person holding the gun bent down close to Terry's face and snarled "Did they send you, answer me now!"

"No they didn't send me, I don't know what you're talking about. And you didn't answer my question."

"Then who sent you."? Came a third voice.

"What? I wasn't sent here by anyone." Terry said as he tried to locate the source of the new voice.

Backing off slightly, the gargoyle with the gun allowed Terry to sit up.

"I am Corporal."

"CPL? That's a rank, not a name"

"They are one in the same." Came the unseen voice again.

Keeping his eyes on Corporal, Terry asked, "Who are you and what do you mean?"

"Sergeant." Spoke a gargoyle that looked almost as big as Goliath did.

"Nice to make your acquaintance Sarge. "

"That's Sergeant to you! But you will soon learn respect."

The next thing Terry knew he saw stars just before it all turned black.

"Bring him with us." Sergeant ordered as he shouldered his weapon that he had just used to butt stroke Terry in to unconsciousness.

Awaking a short time later, Terry found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. It was dark, and what ever he was lying on was hard and uneven. _I might be in a cave,_ he thought. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he began to slowly sit up. The sound of movement told Terry that he wasn't alone. From the darkness a grayish outline appeared before him, an outline that looked a lot like a gargoyle. It was about five foot eight he guessed, with wings that were draped around the body sort of like a cape. It stopped a few inches out side of Terry's reach and spread it's legs to shoulder width apart.

"How are you feeling?" The gray outline asked.

"I've been better. Who are you?" Asked Terry.

"I am called Private 108."

"PVT 108? We need to have a serious talk with your parents about their choice of a name."

"Good luck finding out who my parents are. But you can blame my name on my uncle."

"Uncle?"

"As in Sam."

"Are you saying you were named by the government?"

"Yes."

"Now why would you be named something like that unless you came from a test tube or …." The rest of Terry's sentence trailed off as his mind reached back in to his memory for something. Project Test Tube. Yeah, that was it. He remembered seeing a folder with that title on it a few years ago while visiting a friend at the National Security Agency. What was it he had said, something about great strides being made in bio weapons.

"You're a product of Project Test Tube." Terry said, as he was once again amazed at how the mind makes the oddest connections at the oddest times.

"Yes I am."

"Are all of you?"

"Yes."

_Well that explains a lot_ Terry thought.

"Where are we?" He asked.

"I can't tell you that."

"Well I know this much, we're in a cave, and it's not the same one otherwise I would be tied up right now."

His eyes having adjusted enough to make out details now, Terry could see the surprised look on her face. _Her? Yeah, her looks did match her voice, so she must be female. _He thought.

"How many females are in your group?" Terry asked.

"Just me."

"How big is your group?"

"I can't tell you that either."

"Why not? I'm by myself, and I know there are at least three of you, so no matter what I'm out numbered."

"You're a soldier, you should know the answer to that."

"What makes you think I'm a soldier?"

"Who else would have an M1911 pistol on them."

"Just because I have a 45-caliber doesn't mean I was in the army."

"If you had been a civilian you would probably carry a 44-caliber. And thanks for telling me which service you were in."

_Damn, I did let that slip. She's a smart cookie; I'm going to have to be more careful_, Terry thought.

"Private 108, Sergeant wants you to bring the prisoner to the mouth of the cave." Shouted a third voice from the shadows.

"On your feet!" Private 108 said rather harshly.

Standing up slowly as an act of defiance, Terry looked around for as many clues as possible.

"Turn ninety degrees to your left and slowly walk forward."

"And what if I walk quickly?"

"Then you will trip and fall."

"At least you're honest."

Finally approaching the entrance of the cave, enough moon and starlight filtered in so that Terry was able to make out four figures standing near by. Stopping for a second, he was soon pushed by something cool and metallic in his back.

"I see you are awake, good. Now we will see if you are one of us." Spoke Sergeant.

"One of you? What is this, some kind of cult?"

"What we have here is a &ing comedian." Sergeant said as he punched Terry in the stomach.

Despite the fact that he was hunched over, Terry could still see that the sky was turning from a dark purple to a grayish color. _So daylight is coming_ he thought_, good, as soon as they turn to stone then I can make my escape. In the mean time, it looks as though these guys are pulling stand to, so they must be military._

Then, with out warning, the vast ball of nuclear fusion that is the sun, burst over the horizon. The warmth of its rays striking his face was the first sensation Terry felt. The sound of birds chirping was the second. But the third and most important was what struck his eyes, standing before him as if nothing special had happened were the six gargoyles that currently held him captive.

"He is one of us." Private 97 said.

"Wow, is he really?" Added Private 93.

"A new ally." Said Private 88.

"At ease!" Shouted Corporal as he looked towards Sergeant for guidance.

"Whether or not he is a friend or not remains to be seen. For now we will take him with us." Sergeant finally said after a moment of contemplation.

With out warning Sergeant let out a grunt and grabbed his stomach as he fell to the ground.

"Take cover!" Corporal shouted even as the rest of the gargoyles ducked down.

"Orders?" Corporal asked Sergeant.

"Take Private 88, 93, and 97 we've got break up that ambush."

Suddenly, a hail of bullets began to swarm towards the group. Not only did the volume of small arms fire increase, but also the sound of mortars added their voice.

"What are you, crazy? If you try to attack you'll be killed. We've got to get out of here." Terry shouted in alarm.

"You shut up. You're not in charge here." Shouted Sergeant.

The explosion of a mortar round not ten meters from their position added a new sense of urgency to the conversation.

"CPL, is there another way out of here?" Terry asked.

"Yes, in the back of the cave."

Raising him self to a sitting position, Sergeant grabbed Terry by his shirt and shouted, "I am their leader, I will….". The rest of his sentence was drown out by the deafening blast as another mortar landed even closer to their position.

Not even waiting for the dust to clear Terry shouted his orders.

"CPL, if we don't get out of here we're dead. Lead the way."

"Sergeant is hurt bad." Private 108 said as she held a field dressing to his head.

"PVT 88, help me to carry Sarge."

"What for?"

"To save him."

Watching as Corporal disappeared in to the darkness of the cave, Private 88 made a decision.

"I'm going with Corporal." As he stood up and ran after him.

"Come back here! You can't leave your buddy!" Terry shouted.

"I will help you." Private 108 said.

Despite the continuing hail of bullets and mortar rounds, the two of them managed to drag Sergeant to the back of the cave. Looking around Terry failed to see any exit, until Private 108 pointed toward the ceiling. Gazing upward Terry saw the tail of a gargoyle disappear through a hole in the ceiling.

"!#&, we can't carry Sarge up there. Stay here, I'll go get the others." Terry said.

Climbing out the top of the cave, Terry saw the other four gargoyles spreading out and attempting to find some cover and concealment.

"CPL, come give us a hand moving Sarge." Terry said.

"He is too badly injured. If we leave him, then it will allow us to escape."

"I can't believe your saying that."

Just then Private 108 came out of cave.

"The enemy is entering the cave, we can't go back for our supplies."

"#$! We won't survive long with out those supplies." Corporal swore.

"What about Sergeant?" Private 108 asked.

"We'll have to leave him."

"There is another option. If you give me my gun back, I will hold off the enemy so you can evac your wounded and supplies."

"How can we trust you if we arm you again." Corporal asked.

"What am I going to do, shoot you and fly off? If I wanted to fly off I would have done it already. Besides those guys were shooting at me too, so its not like I'm working for them."

"Agreed. Private 108, return his weapon."

After receiving his weapon, Terry quickly inserted a magazine and chambered a round. Looking down the hole that he had just came out of Terry could hear the sound of gunfire and of people moving.

"Man I hated going in to tunnels after Charlie." Terry said as he jumped in to the cave.

Private 108 was about to hop in after him but Corporal put a hand on her arm.

"Wait. Lets see if he can buy us some time."

"But what if he needs help?"

"He won't when he's dead." Corporal spoke loader to be heard over the sound of gunfire that was growing louder inside the cave followed by an explosion that sent dust coming up out of the hole.

Turning from Private 108, Corporal informed the squad that they would be heading south in three minutes and to be ready for anything.

Sticking his head out the hole Terry shouted, "I could use some help down here searching these dead bodies."

"You got it." Private 108 said, the pride in her voice not entirely masked.

As for Corporal, he merely looked at Terry and began to rethink his assessment of him.

"Change of plan troopers." Corporal shouted to the remainder of his squad.

With the help of the other five gargoyles, it proved to be quite easy to not only remove the supplies in the cave, but to search and strip the two gunmen that had entered the cave and to evacuate Sergeant.

"All right listen up, with Sarge unable to walk, we're going to have to carry him. So that means we will be traveling on the ground. PVT 93, I need you on point 150 meters in front of us. PVT 88, I need you as rear security 100 meters behind us. The rest of us will be in the center carrying Sarge." Terry issued his instructions.

"Your in no position to be issuing orders…" Sergeant stopped speaking when he felt Corporal's hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it Sergeant, I'll take care of things, for now you need to save your strength."

"Don't let me down."

Stepping a few feet away so that Sergeant would not hear him, Corporal quickly issued the same orders that Terry had just put out.

Looking at each other, an unspoken understanding quickly passed between the two as Corporal gave a slight nod to Terry.

Getting organized didn't take as long as Terry thought it might, so by eleven that morning they were on the move, and things were starting to look up. Or at least Terry had hoped so, they were lucky to get out of the cave, they might not be so next time.

Suddenly a shot rang out and landed near Private 108's foot. Realizing that they were coming under sniper fire, the group once again hit the ground and attempted to seek cover. Because Sergeant was now unconscious, his limp body proved to be a hassle to drag out of the line of fire. _I wonder if anyone ever had to do the same for Goliath, these two are about the same size_, Terry thought.

"What do we do now?" Corporal asked.

"You guys stay here. I'm going to take care of business." Terry said as he produced a hand grenade and began to low crawl in the direction of the gunfire.

Ducking to avoid gunfire that was directed at him, Terry for the twelfth time that day wondered just what had gone wrong and how he had gotten in this mess. As it was the other gargoyles were pinned down and stuck where they were. Worst yet, these weren't your ordinary hicks shooting at them, these guys were good, probably Special Forces.

Making a mad dash, Terry reached a new position and pressed himself as low to the ground as possible as a hail of bullets buzzed overhead. Listening for several moments, Terry finally heard what he was listening for, a rustling sound, as if someone was moving. Taking his grenade in hand, Terry pulled the pin and trusting in luck, threw it in the direction the sound had come from.

_One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four, one thousand fi_… the rest of Terry's mental count interrupted by the explosion. In one swift movement Terry was on his feet and sprinted to where he had thrown the grenade.

Lying on his side, a man was holding his hands over his eyes. Hearing Terry approach, the man began to cry out.

"Help me please. I, I can't see. Help me please."

"Hold still. I'm going to pour a little water on you to clear the blood." Terry said as he opened the man's canteen. "Now just relax while I look at the wound." Slowly moving the man's hands away from his face, Terry saw that there was no helping the man. Both of his eyes gone, probably sliced by fragments from the grenade. There was a large gash on the side of his head, and a jagged hole in his left check.

"Just relax. I need to know where your morphine is." Terry asked the man.

"Right arm pocket. Is it that bad? Why can't I see?"

"Take it easy, you can't see because blood has covered your eyes. Once you get them cleaned up you'll be ok."

Taking a deep breath, Terry pulled his knife and slit the man's throat to put him out of his misery.

Picking up the fallen man's weapon, Terry saw it was just a standard M4 rifle with a thirty round clip.

However, Terry's attention was soon focused on a new sound, the distinctive rattle of the AK-47 assault rifle. _Two, maybe three of them, about two hundred meters away,_ he thought. Pulling the bolt back to make sure there was a round in the chamber, Terry took aim in the direction of the gunfire.

After a couple of moments a single man dashed out in to the open carrying an AK-47. Terry was about to squeeze trigger when a second person came in to view out of the corner of his eye. Quickly changing targets, Terry took aim at the new comer, gently squeezed the trigger and sent a 5.56-millimeter round flying in to the man's head. As the round penetrated the hard bone, it began to tumble like it was designed to; between the bullet and the bone fragments the poor guy was brain dead before he had finished exhaling.

Switching the selector from single to burst, Terry then pulled the trigger twice and sent six rounds flying towards their next target. This time only two rounds found their target, but that was all that was needed. The first hit his hand and went straight through, the second hit him in the leg. Again the round did what it was supposed to, it tumbled, shattered bone and shredded arteries and veins. Screaming in pain, the man dropped his weapon and clutched his leg in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of blood.

Again, Terry bounded up to where the gunman had been. This time the man was lying on his back, his leg raised in the air in an attempt to reduce both blood flow and blood lose. But before he could get close enough to do anything, two shots rang out and struck the body. The first landed in the man's chest, the second in his stomach.

Looking at the two new wounds, Terry knew that the man was dead; it was only a matter of time. Following the imaginary line of trajectory the bullets followed, Terry's gaze came across Corporal standing not twenty meters away with a pistol in his hand.

Nearly fifteen hours after the first bullet had hit Sergeant, the squad had finally broken contact from whoever it was that was chasing them. Now they were trying to keep Sergeant alive, but he was hanging on by a mere thread.

"That's it, we're out of IVs bags and bandages." Private 108 announced

"It won't matter if he goes in to shock again." Terry said.

"Even if he lives he will just slow us down." Said Private 88.

"So you would have left him then?"

"Yes."

"Wrong answer, you don't go and leave your buddies."

"Oh no, Sergeant has stopped breathing!" Private 108 shouted.

"!#&!" Terry shouted as he began to perform CPR on the gargoyle. "Come on Sarge, don't die on me, pull through."

Sitting on one of the numerous buildings that make up the skyline of New York City, Brooklyn was enjoying his solitude.

"Hey Brooklyn, what's up?" asked Broadway as he landed next to Brooklyn.

"Not much."

"Nice night isn't it?"

"I'm surprised you managed to break away from Angela long enough to notice".

"Yeah, Angela and I have been getting kind of hot and heavy lately. In fact Goliath almost caught us tonight. Luckily we were able to sneak away before he saw us."

"Lucky you." Brooklyn said with out even bothering to look up at Broadway.

"Yeah. That's why Angela and I were wondering if you could do us a favor?"

"What kind of favor?"

"Well if you could tell Goliath that Angela and I went for a patrol when we really didn't. That way we can fool around with out having to worry about him walking in on us."

"You want me to lie to Goliath just so you and Angie can fool around."

"Well not lie to him really."

"Then just what are you saying?"

"That you let help to keep Goliath out of our hair for just one night so that we can spend some quality time together."

_Oh great_, Brooklyn thought, _just what I need, someone asking me to lie to Goliath just so his daughter can make out with her boyfriend._

"Sorry, but I have to say no."

"What? Come on Brooklyn, why are you doing this to me?"

"Look man, just because you want to go and make out with your girlfriend doesn't mean I have to go and lie to Goliath."

"Hey no need to be crude, besides I'm not asking you to lie, just distract Goliath."

"The last time I lied to Goliath, he was nearly enslaved by Demona. The last thing I want to do is to lie to him about his daughter and her boyfriend getting it on. So I'm not going to be you're accomplice for your little antics."

"Come on Brooklyn, what's your problem?"

"Problem? What makes you think I have a problem?"

"You've been having a real attitude the last few months. What's your problem? Are you still upset about the fact Angela chose me over you? Or maybe it's the fact that you're your still upset about Maggie choosing Talon over you."

"No that's not it."

"Than what? Don't take it out on me just because you haven't found the right girl for you to get it on with."

Chuckling to himself, Brooklyn was half tempted to tell Broadway the truth just to watch the reaction on his face.

"What's so funny?" Broadway asked.

"Don't you have any more respect for your second in command than to have him distract Goliath just so you can fool around? Besides I don't need Angie to teach me about desire." Brooklyn said as he stood up to leave.

"Second in command. Oh come off it, its not like Goliath is going to be away from New York anytime soon. Besides we're rookery brothers, you never used to use your position on me and Lex before."

_Its just as I figured, they really don't look up to me; they still see me as a hatchling like them. Well its time I asserted my self then,_ Brooklyn thought crossly.

"Look, Broadway, I'm not going to help you out. End of discussion. Now I want to be alone for a while, so don't bother following me and try to change my mind." With that Brooklyn leapt from the roof.

"Hey wait up. What did you mean you don't need Angela to teach you about desire?" Broadway shouted as he too took to the air.

"I'm not kidding Brooklyn, I want an answer. Did you and Angela? Well you know."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on Brooklyn, tell me. I deserve to know."

"I said I didn't want to talk about it!"

"You sneaky !#$! When? Why? How could you?" Broadway shouted as the two landed on a nearby roof.

As soon as they had landed Brooklyn swung around and landed a punch right to Broadway's face. Taken by surprise, Broadway lost his balance, fell on his back and began to slide down the slant of the roof.

"I told you to just leave me alone!" Brooklyn shouted as he flew off in to the night.

Landing on one of the battlements, Broadway made his return to the castle.

"Hey good looking." Angela called to Broadway as he landed.

"Eeep. Broadway, what happened to your eye? Are you alright?"

"A fist that has Brooklyn attached to it." Broadway replied dryly.

"Why did he do that?"

"I don't know, all I know is that he flew off after punching me."

"Who punched you?" Asked Elisa as she walked in on the conversation.

"Brooklyn." Filled in Broadway as Angela put some ice to his black eye.

An hour later, Terry was exhausted, but there was still one more thing he had to do. Reaching up to Sergeants head, Terry slowly and gently closed his eyes for the last time.

With out even looking up Terry said "PVT 108, go and get the rest of the squad."

"No need. We are all here. We saw what happened." Corporal spoke.

"I told you we should have left him, he wouldn't have suffered." Private 88 said.

"At ease." Corporal directed towards the Private.

"Sergeant is dead. Now what do we do?"

"I said at ease!" Corporal said more forcefully this time.

"Who's going to lead us? We might as well give up."

Grabbing PVT 88's shirt, Terry slapped him in a way that would have made Patton proud.

"Listen up all of you. You claim to be soldiers, but I've yet to see that. Soldiers work together as a team, even when scared. Well starting right now that's how I'm going to teach you how to act like, like soldiers."

Letting go of Private 88, Terry turned to face Corporal.

"CPL, take two men and dig a grave, we will give SGT a proper burial."

Looking at Terry, Corporal contemplated his words for a moment. _Over the past several months Sergeant had been their leader, the one they all looked to. And even though he wouldn't admit it to the others, Corporal had begun to see how Sergeant was losing faith, becoming discouraged at always running away and yet still being hunted down. But now came along Terry, he had confidence, leadership ability, and fighting ability. In short, he was like Sergeant, but better. He was what they needed if they were going to survive_. Realizing that now with Sergeant dead, the rest of the squad would look to him for guidance, Corporal decided to set the example.

"It will be ready with in the hour." Corporal said as he stood up straight and snapped off a salute to Terry. "Private 88, 93, you two are with me."

True to his word, Corporal had the grave dug with in the hour. Very efficient Terry noted as the squad gathered around for the funeral.

Watching as they laid Sergeant's cold body in to the ground, Terry thought back to the times he had done the same for people who he had served with.

"I know I didn't know Sergeant nearly as well as the rest of the squad did, but I can understand how you feel. I have buried many comrades of mine in graves just like this. I know he was your leader, and your friend, but most importantly he was one of you. You guys are a family."

Having finished his speech, Terry nodded to Corporal.

"We will miss Sergeant. He was our leader, our friend, one of us. He helped us to survive these long months while we were being hunted, and now for him the hunt is over. The worst part of his death was that he didn't get to die heroically or even in battle, but from an ambush. However, some good has come from his death." Despite all the funny looks the rest of the squad sent him, Corporal continued on.

"The reason we are able to bury Sergeant here now is because someone showed us the true meaning of what being a squad is about. Someone who can help us to continue to survive." Bowing down his head, Corporal tossed a hand full of dirt in to the grave and said one final farewell to Sergeant.

After the funeral, the squad returned to its encampment. As Private 93 headed out on his roving guard duty shift, Terry pulled Corporal aside and out of earshot from everyone else.

"CPL, I know you're willing to accept me as your new leader, but what about the rest of the squad?"

"They will follow orders, especially from me. Besides, once they realize that you will be a better leader they will want to follow you."

"What makes you think I'm a better leader?"

"You have confidence, something that Sergeant did not have. You can fight very well, and can probably teach us how to fight as well. That was something Sergeant could not do. Also, you have leadership ability, you knew how to use just the right amount of force to get Private 88 to follow orders, and you knew what was wrong with this squad."

"If you guys are willing to accept me as one of you, then I will be your squad leader, and I will teach you how to survive."

The night had been a long one, but now morning was finally coming. Corporal already had the squad up and on alert, ready should they be attacked at first light. _He is good_, Terry thought, _I can see why Sarge relied on him so much. I wonder if Sarge knew how good he had it?_

An hour after first light, Corporal called the squad together to address them.

"Listen up. While we were moving yesterday, Sergeant told me that if he didn't make it, that he thought Terry would be a good choice to lead us out of trouble."

Terry noticed that PVT 108 had caught the obvious lie. At no time yesterday did SGT and CPL discuss who should take command.

"I agree with Sergeant's decision. Right now Terry has more combat experience than all of us put together. You saw how he handled things yesterday, it is because of him that we survived."

Turning to face Terry, Corporal asked, "What are your orders?"

Realizing just what it was that CPL was trying to do, Terry quickly organized his thoughts.

"First, break camp. Second, we'll move out in thirty minutes. But we'll stay on the ground to avoid detection. Third, we'll stop after four hours for chow."

"You heard the orders, move out." Corporal said to the squad.

The day was clear and warm as the sun shone down on Terry and his squad. Having stopped to eat, Terry looked at the gargoyles around him and noticed for the first time just how similar all of them, him self included, looked. _How strange, _He thought, _that we would all look so much alike. Obviously there is a higher power involved here._

They were all the same color; their skin was a greenish gray color that meant they could blend in with either forest or urban terran. As for their skin, it wasn't scaly, feather, or anything, but smooth, like that of a humans. They also all possessed the same type of wing structure, a bat type of wing that was hinged between the back and shoulder. While flexing certain back muscles could move it; it would take far to much effort to attempt to flap them like a bird. The part that Terry liked best how they could be wrapped around the person like a cape. Their faces were for the most part human looking, with brown hair, except for PVT 108's; who was a soft blonde, although each person had slightly different lengths. Private 88 had the shortest, while Private 108 had the longest, even though it was only shoulder length. On top of that everyone had the same eye color, a sharp, deep blue.

"Is something wrong?" PVT 108 asked, "You've been looking at us for a while now."

"No, just thinking how much you guys look like one another, and with the names you have, it's hard to keep straight who's who. We need to give you guys some new names."

"What's wrong with the ones we have now?" Asked Private 97.

"Because with the ones you have now, and with it being tattooed on your right arm, I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of robots. CPL, we'll call you Harper. PVT 88, we'll call you Machiavelli, PVT 93; your Hannibal, PVT 97; your Duke, and as for you PVT 108, you'll be Athena."

"That is a wise decision." Harper said. "Before the change we didn't have as difficult a time telling each other apart."

"What do you mean before the change?" Terry asked.

"We did not always look like monsters as we do now. Several months ago we used to look human

"Brooklyn! Where have you been the last two days?" Goliath demanded from his second in command.

"I'm sorry Goliath, I had to be alone to clear my head."

"You were gone two days with out letting anyone know where you were. You just left all your duties unperformed, and you struck one of your rookery brothers. Your conduct of late has been very unbecoming of a second in command."

"I know and I'm sorry Goliath."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. I think you need to talk to Broadway; he is in the TV room right now. When you are done there we will talk some more."

Sighing Brooklyn knew that Goliath was right, even though he really didn't feel like doing it. Walking towards the TV room, Brooklyn ran in to Lexington.

"Brooklyn, glad to see your ok. Now what the hell did you punch Broadway for?"

"I lost my temper with him. He just kept pushing my buttons."

"That's no excuse, he's one of us. He have to depend on each other."

"Please don't Lex. You're starting to sound like Goliath."

"Well what ever your reason was, all I know is that you had better pull your act together. Neither Goliath or Hudson are real happy with you at the moment."

"Is Broadway still in the TV room?"

"Yeah."

Reaching out to open the door to the TV room, Brooklyn stopped as he heard Broadway and Angela in a heated conversation.

"Angela, please tell me the truth. It won't change how I feel about you."

"I am telling you the truth. Nothing happened. I don't know what Brooklyn is talking about."

_Now may not be the best time to walk in on them_ Brooklyn thought. _Guess I had better go and get my lecture from Goliath. The worst part about this whole thing is that I know I'm wrong and there is no excuse for it, but damn it, I'm tired of living here with these guys, tired of all the responsibility, tired of not having any prospects for the future._

Sitting around the small fire that they had built, the gargoyles were enjoying the fresh mongoose they had caught. As each one worked on one task or another to get ready for the next day, Harper began to play a little tune from the flute he had made.

"You're definitely getting better." Duke said. "You too Hannibal, that poem you wrote last night was good."

"I guess everyone has some type of hidden talent." Added Athena. "Speaking of which, Terry, how is it that you are so good at surviving in the woods like this?"

"For that matter, how and when did you receive your military training? You're better than any of us." Hannibal asked.

"Well for starters I've been at it a lot longer than you guys." Terry answered.

"What do you mean?"

"Just that. I was in the army for almost forty five years before I retired."

"You mean I have to be as old as you before I can retire?" Machiaevlli asked as he returned to the group after being relieved from guard duty by Duke.

"Only if you live to the ripe old age of seventy like me."

"Seventy? Good grief you're old."

"Seventy? What happened to the other twenty five years?" Asked Athena.

"What do you mean what happened to the other twenty five years?"

"You said you're seventy years old, yet you were only in the army for forty five years. You didn't spend your whole life in the army?" Athena asked with a confused look on her face.

"No, because I didn't come in to this world the same way you guys did."

"Hold on here. Now I'm really confused, just what the heck are you talking about?" Machiavelli interrupted.

"Think back to before you were turned in to gargoyles. What was your life like, what do you remember?"

"All we remember is the military, there was nothing before that." Hannibal said.

"The reason you don't know anything outside of your life before the military is because you never had one."

"Now I'm really, really confused." Machiavelli said.

"That's a natural state for you." Athena unexpectedly shot at him before turning to Terry again. "What are you trying to tell us? That we had a different life before the military, like we had a different life before we became gargoyles?"

"Yes and no."

"If this keeps up I'm going to go back out on guard duty just so I don't get a headache." Machiavelli announced.

"Do you know what a child is?" Terry asked.

The four other gargoyles nodded.

"Well that is what makes you different than "normal" people you may know. A "normal" person is born and grows up to adulthood. Unfortunately that is some thing you guys missed out on, instead you were grown in a test tube until your body was fully-grown. After you came out you were put to work doing what you had been designed to do, to be a solider." Terry explained.

"Test tubes, grown? You mean we're all clones?" Hannibal asked.

"That makes sense. It's why we all look so much alike." Athena said excitedly as the new information changed her thinking and opened her mind to new possibilities.

"So that's why you know so many things, after you retired from the military you started a new life." Harper said breaking his long silence.

Lying with his hands under his head, Terry found that sleep eluded him. Not since he had participated in the massacre at No Gun Ri had he had so much trouble sleeping. As he closed his eyes for the eighth time that night, memories of the past crept in to his mind.

"Sergeant Anderson, you are found guilty of assaulting an officer. However, instead of just handing out punishment to you, I have a choice for you." The Judge Advocate said. "You can either accept the punishment for your crimes, or you can volunteer for a special project the army has."

"Sir, I'll volunteer for the special project." Terry said.

"Very well then. MPs, remove the prisoner until transfer tomorrow morning."

A few days later Terry was lying naked on a table of some sort as doctors hovered around him. They had said that it would not hurt much, but that had been a lie. He didn't know what they were doing to him, but from what he could gather it had something to do with making him a "much better" soldier.

He had followed orders and fired on civilians at No Gun Ri, later, when things had settled down somewhat, Terry had punched out his commanding officer. For that he was courts-martialed and presented with that faithful choice, do two years in a military prison and receive a bad conduct discharge or volunteer for a special top-secret Army project.

The officer in charge of the project had told him point blank that they had no idea how long the life extension project could extend his life, only a guess, which hovered around adding twenty years to his normal life. Well that had proved to be incorrect, as near as Terry could tell he was in the same shape today as he was when he was twenty-five.

Awaking in a cold sweat, a sudden thought occurred to him. Things happen for a reason. _That must be the answer_, he thought. From that special project he had been given a chance to redeem himself, although it took nearly twenty years for it to happen. If he had not been in such good shape then he never would have been selected for the green berets and been assigned to long-range recon patrols in Vietnam. And it was on the return trip from one of these LRRPs that he had been given the chance to make up for what he did in Korea. If it had not been for him, then the Army would never have acknowledged the massacre of the village at Me Lei.

Terry was never one to believe in fate or destiny, but suddenly he had reason to question that belief. Here he was, an old soldier that had been turned in to a gargoyle. On top of that he had meet a bunch of other soldiers who like him had been given no real choice in the matter, and had been turned in to gargoyles. They were brought together by the fact that they had no past, only a future, one that they could make together.

_I guess that's what fate has in store for me, to teach these other gargoyles how to be something other than just fighters, to teach them how to live._ Terry thought.

"Goliath, we need to talk." Xanatos said as he interrupted the Gargoyle's reading of Mark Twain's _A Private History of a Campaign that Failed_.

"Now what is it Xanatos? The last time you said that Terry was running lose in the castle."

"Its about Brooklyn."

Ignoring the stern warning look that Goliath shot him, David pressed on. "I know about that little scrape between Brooklyn and Broadway."

"Yes, and we dealt with it in the clan. There is no need for you to become involved."

"I disagree with you on that. Don't you see how Brooklyn's been acting the past several months?"

Realizing that Xanatos wasn't going to go away anytime soon, Goliath closed his book and put it down.

"What do you mean?"  
"Ever since you returned from Avalon I've noticed a change in Brooklyn. It's becoming more and more pronounced each day. That little fight with Broadway was just the latest sign."

"Change, in what way?"

"While you were gone, he was the big man on the block. Now that you are back, he has been knocked down a notch. He did seem to be the most interested in Angela, but when she chose Broadway, well that must hurt his ego. Which is par for the coarse when it comes to his love life. Then came along Terry, someone who has been around the world and went off to do his own thing. That is something Brooklyn has never done, he's either been in tenth century Scotland or in modern day New York."

"What is your point Xanatos."?

"That he needs some time to spread his wings, to sow his wild oats, to discover himself. In short, he needs to leave the castle for a while. What I have is a constructive way for him to focus his energies. I have received reports from across the country that there are a bunch of unknown gargoyles who remain flesh during the day that are running lose."

"What? How long have you know about this?" Goliath demanded.

"Not long. The information was unconfirmed for a while, and its sketchy at best."

"Still you should have told us as soon as you received this information."

"Told you? Told you what? Don't you get it Goliath; we need to find out what is going on here. Terry was the only new Gargoyle that we had ever encountered, with the twist that he doesn't turn to stone, and now all of a sudden there are reports of a lot more of them popping up. Something is going on here, and we need to discover what it is."

"I suppose you have a plan then Xanatos."

Smiling, Xanatos replied, "When haven't I?"

Looking at the carnage he had just created, Sergeant smiled at the blood that covered his hands. Both he and his two subordinates, Private 75, and Private 98 had done a good job of taking out the these humans that had come to hunt them down. Just then a shadow momentarily fell across Sergeant and a slight wind rustled his hair. Snapping his head up and around, Sergeant soon saw what had caused the disturbance.

"I see you don't like humans very much." Spoke a red headed female gargoyle that had landed near by.

"I don't like anything that threatens me." Returned Sergeant.

"Then how would you like to have the ability to never be threatened again, Sergeant 14." Demona said as she read the tattoo on his right shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

September 24, 1996

"Brooklyn, how are you doing?" Xanatos asked as the young gargoyle walked in to his office.

"Ok all things considered." Brooklyn replied.

The fact that Brooklyn hadn't even bothered to make a wisecrack did not go unnoticed by the multi-billionaire. Turning the large computer monitor that sat on his desk around so that it was facing Brooklyn, David Xanatos began with a question.

"Do you know what all these red dots on this map represent?"

"No I can't say I do."

"They represent places where there has been some type of physical evidence of a gargoyle."

"Gargoyles like us?" Brooklyn asked as he estimated there were about two-dozen red dots on the screen.

"No, more like the none turning to stone during the day variety. Sound familiar?"

"You mean all these gargoyles, are like Terry? That they claim to have been humans before."

"That is as yet unknown. But its something that I think we would all be interested in finding out."

"So why tell me and not Goliath about this?"

"I did, and we came up with a plan to find out. That's where you come in."

"Is this another one of your plots? I bet you really didn't tell Goliath."

Sighing, Xanatos decided to change tactics. "Brooklyn, I'll cut right to the chase. Right now you are not a real popular guy among the clan. Goliath was this close to throwing you out of the clan." David held up his thumb and forefinger less than an inch apart.

"He was?" Brooklyn asked in surprise, a small knot forming in his stomach.

"The only thing that saved you was the fact that you would be at the mercy of the world, and he couldn't bring himself to do it. But I think sending you out on your own would be a good thing."

Three days later, as Brooklyn double-checked the pack with his gear, the rest of the clan gathered on the western most tower of castle Wyvern.

"Man, you're going to have so much fun. Be sure you keep us up to date on your adventures." Lexington said as he helped Brooklyn to finish packing.

"I will."

"Take care of yourself out there." Broadway said.

Turning to face him; Brooklyn offered his hand and said "No hard feelings then?"

"Nah, we're rookery brothers. I can't hold a grudge." As he took Brooklyn's arm.

"You be careful out there." Elisa said as she hugged Brooklyn.

"That goes double for me." Added Angela, as she did like wise and at the last second added a small peck to the side of his beak.

"Whatever you find out there lad, remember, as long as you face it like a gargoyle, you'll do ok."

"I'll remember that Hudson."

Appearing from the stairway of the tower, the Xanatos family made their entrance.

"Before you leave Brooklyn, I hope you will accept this small gift from my family." David said as he handed an envelope to the gargoyle.

"There is a thousand dollars in small bills, a debit card and a credit card, and a phone card. Feel free to use it anytime."

"Thank you." Brooklyn said.

"It's so hard to shop for a gargoyle, we decided that in this case cash was the best gift." Fox said with a wink. "Think of it as an early Christmas gift."

"Bye bye." Added Alexander.

Sensing that everyone else had said his or her piece, Goliath thought now was the proper time for him to speak.

"Brooklyn, you know we will be worried about you while you are gone…"

"I know I know, be careful…"

Holding up his hand to stop Brooklyn, Goliath finished what he was going to say. "Yes be careful. But I also want you to know that no matter what happens, I trust you will make us proud by doing the right thing."

"Thanks Goliath." Brooklyn said as he accepted his leaders out stretched hand.

"Since its not even October yet the days are still longer than the nights. You had better get going lad and make use of the night as best you can."

Nodding his head, Brooklyn picked up his gear, slung it across his back, said his final goodbye then jumped off in to the night sky.

October 25, 1996

_Damn,_ Terry thought_, we've been on the run for the past two months now and we keep getting chased by who ever it is that's hunting us. I'm left with no choice then; we need to find some allies, some strong friends. And the closest and strongest one I can think of is Goliath's clan. But I would rather not do that, the clan will accept them just like they did me, but Goliath will try to assert himself as our leader. But at the least it would ensure my guys had a warm, dry, safe, place to stay_.

Just then Terry's attention was brought back to the present by a sight that he wasn't sure was there. It looked like a gargoyle, but the darkness of the night made him not sure if he had even seen it. Besides no one from Goliath's clan would be this far from the city. Watching the unknown gargoyle land below, Terry indicated for Harper to join him. After quickly explaining his plan, Terry swooped down to where the other gargoyle stood.

As the two gargoyles faced each other in the small clearing they had both landed in, Terry did a quick once over of his potential threat. The first thing he noticed was that the gun that was strapped to its leg did a lot to steal Terry's advantage of numbers. The squad had been out of ammunition for the past few weeks now.

"My name is Terry. Who are you?" He asked taking control of the situation.

"My name is Demona," The female gargoyle said with a certain amount of seductive slowness as she stepped in to the moonlight. "And I think we have a lot we can offer one another."

One month and a thousand miles away.

"Lets go, lets go. You've got four minutes left. You had better move faster." Terry shouted.

Running past him carrying sandbags from one corner of the gymnasium to the center of the room, Terry's Roughwings, as they had started calling themselves, were receiving a real work out.

"Very good guys, you managed to pile all the sandbags with five seconds to spare. Still you did meet the standard." Terry said as he climbed to the top of the sandbag pile. "Now for the fun part. The name of the game is king of the hill. The rules are simple; knock me from the top of this pile. The only other rule is that it's all fun and games until someone losses an eye. You think you can handle that?"

Looking at their leader for a second, the remaining gargoyles looked at each other before charging up the sandbag pile at once.

His attention distracted by the simultaneous attacks from Harper and Hannibal, Terry was caught by surprised when Athena snuck behind him and gave a quick yank on his tail. Unfortunately for her, she lost her balance and fell down the sandbag pile and landed on her back. Taking advantage of his being off balance, Harper and Hannibal managed to push Terry off the mound and watched as he fell and landed with his face right between Athena's breast's.

Quickly standing up, Terry knew that he had to do something to regain his dignity quickly as he watched Harper, Hannibal, Duke, and Machiavelli laughing uncontrollably.

"Atten Hut!" He shouted. "Every one that laughed at this little misfortune, run a lap around the gym and then knock out ten push ups."

Once the other Roughwings had started running their laps, Terry helped Athena to her feet.

"Sorry about that, kind of embarrassing wasn't it."

"Yeah, but maybe next time you shouldn't do it with such a large audience." She retorted playfully.

"I'll have to keep that in mind." Terry said with less amusement.

Watching a short distance away stood two gargoyles, one a lean and attractive female. The other was a male that stood nearly as large as Goliath, but with a much less personable disposition. His brown hair and grayish green skin contrasted against his partners red hair and blue skin. The scar that ran down his right pectoral muscle contrasted against her flawlessly smooth skin.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Aries asked Demona as they watched from an overhead observation window.

"Yes, just look at them, they have a real loyalty for Terry. The harder he pushes them, the harder they work. Plus you must admit, he is quite skilled in both armed and unarmed combat and has taught them quite well. As I hear it, he beat you by a good margin in a shooting contest."

"A weapon is one thing. But the true test of a warrior comes from defeating his enemy with his own hands. Just look at them, running around with sandbags, now wrestling around with each other. I still say you should have made me their leader and not left Terry in his place." Aries said with barely hidden disgust.

"Why Aries, what's the matter, having a spat of inferiority complex? Don't you see what he is doing, first he tires them out with exercise, then he builds up their spirit with a little bit of play. Is that why you're in such a foul mood, you weren't invited to play in their games?"

"No, I just disagree with his methods."

"I also hear that Terry has a special nickname for you too. What is it he calls you, Sarge?"

The low growl of irritation that came from his throat gave Demona all the answer she needed. Now all she had to do was find out why Terry calls him that.

Later that day, Harper stood at the doors leading in to Demona's office. He didn't know why she wanted to see him, but it must have been important if she couldn't wait for Terry to return from the weapons evaluation that he was doing for her. Knocking twice, he was greeted with a pleasant voice telling him to enter.

"Harper, please sit down." Demona indicated toward a seat that was in front of her desk. "I just wanted a chance to talk to you one on one, to get to know you a little better."

"What would you like to know?"

"Your pretty loyal to Terry aren't you?"

"Yes I am."

"What about me?"

"I didn't know loyalty to you was required."

"Its not. But Terry must have done something right to earn your trust and respect, I just wanted to know what it was so I could do the same."

"You make it sound as if you want to buy my loyalty."

"Not in the least. I just wonder what leadership skills he has that I might be able to learn."

"In that case, its a simple thing, he made us feel like a family, and taught us that there is more to life than being a soldier. For example, I have learned a lot about music from him, both how to play and how to appreciate it. If I'm not mistaken, is that not Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor you have playing in the background?"

"Ahh, I see." Walking over to the wet bar she kept in her office, Demona began to fix her self a scotch and water. "Would you care for a drink?"

"No thank you. I'm still on duty."

"Then maybe you can answer a question for me. I heard that Terry has a special nickname for Aries. I was wondering why does he call him Sarge?"

With a slight smile Harper said, "Only if you answer me a question first."

"What is your question?"

"Does it irrate Aries when he's called Sarge?"

"Yes it does." Demona said as she sat on the edge of her desk, letting a lot of her thigh show.  
Chuckling a little before responding, Harper explained the story of Terry and Sergeant, and how Aries looked a lot like Sergeant did.

"I see." Demona said as she walked behind Harper.

"But why else would Terry insult Aries like that? The only thing that it has caused is tension and a lack of cooperation between the two." Demona asked as she laid a hand on Harper's shoulder.

"That I don't know, but Terry is the smartass type, he may just do it out of reflex."

Standing up Harper asked, "Is there anything else you wanted to know?"

"No. But I would like to be able to talk with you again sometime."

"Perhaps, but for now I need to return to the training of the Roughwings in Terry's absence."

Watching as Harper walked out of her officer, Demona made a mental note that Harper was going to be hard to seduce, unlike Duke, Machivalli and Hannibal. But with those three plus, Aries and the two gargoyles under him, in addition to the new gargdrones that were coming on line, she would soon have a powerful clan of her own.

The next day, Aries smiled as he watched his two gargoyles, Ivan and Genghis, square off against two Roughwings. Although he hated to admit it, Terry did have a good idea in having a contest to see who was the best gargoyle. Of coarse Aries already knew who would win this contest hands down. Both he and Demona had worked hard to train his two gargoyles, and now they were going to see the fruits of their labor.

"Hello there Sarge, looks like your ready for today's contest." Terry said

Growling, Aries let his displeasure at being called that name be known.

"All you Sergeant types are the same, you have a real bad disposition and no sense of humor."

"How would you know? There is no Sergeant in you're Roughwings." Aries said.

"Now there isn't, but when I first meet them they had one with them. Sergeant 13 it was."

Growling again, Aries began to clench and unclench his fist as a wave of anger beginning to swell with in. _Sergeant 13 is dead? I knew him, fought by his side, he was a great soldier, he wouldn't be killed easily unless, unless someone had helped to kill him. _Aries thought.

"Like I said, you guys have n…." The rest of Terry's sentence was cut off as Aries landed a powerful punch to his face.

Taken by surprise, Terry reeled and fell backwards as Aries landed blow after blow. Landing on his back, Terry rolled to his left before assuming a crouched position. Charging at him, Aries swung at Terry's head. Dodging to the right, Terry counter attacked with a blow to the stomach, which seemed to do little to slow Aries down.

"Wow, check it. Terry and Aries are going at it!" Duke shouted.

"What?" Hannibal asked, his inattention allowing Ivan to sucker punch him.

Charging again, Aries plowed in to Terry and they both fell to the ground and rolled around a few times before Terry flipped his opponent off of him.

"Come on Terry, beat that big blow hard." Machiavelli shouted in supported.

"No way, Aires will wipe the floor with him." Genghis countered.

"In your dreams pal." Duke said.

Assuming the offense, Terry closed the distance between him and Aries and landed two good punches before being head bunted. Another powerful blow sent Terry falling to the ground again.

"Look at the, he's getting his ass kicked." Ivan cheered as Terry fell.

However, even as he fell Terry used his tail to sweep Aries's feet out from under him.

"You were saying?" Machiavelli shot back.

Taking advantage of the situation, Terry ran to a near by wall and used it to propel himself back the way he came. At the end of his flight Terry's hand connected with Aries head. Unfortunately, Aries had decided to get up and personal with his opponent and had begun to run towards Terry in order to grab him.

"Ah crud, these two are going to kill each other. Athena, go and get Demona. Duke, Ivan, help me to break this up!" Harper shouted.

Finding himself in a crushing bear hug, Terry realized that his options where now extremely limited. Reaching out with both his hands, Terry grabbed a hold of Aries's neck and began to squeeze. It had come down to a battle of attrition, which would pass out first.

So involved where the two combatants that they completed ignored all attempts to separate the two of them. Even when darkness had claimed them they didn't know it was because of oxygen starvation, but instead a rather irate Demona standing over the two with a tranquilizer gun.

October 18, 1996

"So Lexington, how do you feel a month after Goliath made you second in command?" Broadway asked his younger rookery brother.

"Not to bad so far. Although I'm starting to see some of the headaches that Brooklyn had to deal with."

"What kind of headaches?" Angela asked.

"Well for instance, having to try to play peacemaker between Goliath and Xanatos."

"Tell me about it, boy did you see how irate Goliath looked with Xanatos tonight?" Broadway asked.

"Yes, but I don't know why. I thought father had set aside his differences with Xanatos." Angela said.

"You know Xanatos, he's always scheming about something. Probably spent half the day dreaming up some elaborate plan just to bother Goliath." Broadway chuckled.

"Why do you and Lexington always speak so badly of Mr. Xanatos? He's always been a polite and nice man when I talk to him." Angela asked.

"Angela, I don't want to sound mean, but you are a little naive of the new world still."

"Naive?!" Angela said in disgust and anger. She could not believe that Broadway had just said that to her.

"I, uh, um, what I meant." Broadway stammered as he realized that he had just stuck his whole foot in his mouth.

"Angela, look down there on that building. Do you see what I see?" Lexington asked as a way of avoiding an argument.

Following his gaze, Angela saw what Lexington was pointing at, a lone figure sitting on the roof of a building.

He was cold, wet, hungry, tired, and scared. Despite all this, Kenny just sat there, his arms wrapped around his knees and his wings wrapped around him, as he watched the three gargoyles land not fifty feet from him. Approaching slowly, they kept their hands in plain site, as if they were trying to reassure him of their intentions.

"Hello there. My name is Broadway, this is Angela and Lexington." Broadway said as he introduced the group to Kenney.

Barely lifting his head in response, all Kenney said was his name.

"Kenney," Angela said, "If you want, you can come and stay with our clan. It will give you a dry place to rest during the day."

"Where are you from?" Kenney managed to organize his thoughts enough to ask.

"We live in New York." Answered Broadway.

"You're from here?" Kenney asked as he slowly stood up, his wings falling to this side to revel his coppery colored skin. "How long have you been gargoyles? Where are you staying now? Are there more like us? How are you surviving like this?" Kenney began to ask in a rush.

"Hold on there, one question at a time please." Lexington said. "If you want to come with us spend the day with us then we'll answer all your questions."

"You mean you live there?" Kenny asked in disbelief as the four gargoyles approached castle Wyvern.

"Yep, isn't something?" Broadway said.

"Man, how in the world did you get such awesome digs?"

"It helps to have a friend with a billion or two just lying around." Lexington said.

"We will give you a tour of our home later. For now lets get you dried off and something to eat." Angela said.

"That sounds like a good idea, it's been a few hours since I've had anything to eat." Broadway said.

"Goliath, I have something to show you." David Xanatos said as he entered the castles library.

"What is it this time Xanatos?" Goliath asked, annoyed that his reading had been interrupted yet again.

"There is a nice young lady that I would like you to meet." Xanatos said with a slight smirk as if he was about to play a gag on a friend.

Careful to mark his place this time, Goliath returned his copy of _Great Expectations_ to the bookshelf before considering Xanatos.

"A nice young lady for me to meet, why Xanatos, I didn't realize that you were in the match making business also."

"Why Goliath, was that a joke?" Xanatos asked with a chuckle before finally sobering up. "I'll cut straight to the point. A few days ago a lost and scared female gargoyle was discovered at my shipyard in Norfolk. She was quickly nursed back to health before being brought to Manhattan."

"You've discovered another gargoyle?" Goliath asked, his earlier irritation quickly forgotten.

"Yes, she is in my office this very moment and is looking forward to meeting your clan."

"Why was it necessary to nurse her back to health?" Goliath asked as the two walked towards the very center of the Xanatos empire. "A stone sleep should have taken care of all but the most sever injuries. Unless she doesn't turn to stone, just like Terry."

"You're correct on the assumption. She doesn't turn to stone during the day, and also like Terry she makes the claim of being human at one time."

"This is most interesting, and bothersome." Goliath commented.

A couple of hours later a much drier, warmer, and well feed Kenny followed his new friends on a tour of their home.

"Man does he ever stop eating?" Kenny asked as Broadway munched on his third apple since leaving the kitchen.

"Not that I know of." Lexington said.

"Hey I have to keep my energy up you know." Broadway said.

"Yeah, it might be hours until his next snack." Angela teased.

An hour later Kenny asked his tour guides where the bathroom was.

"There's one around the corner and down the hall." Lexington answered.

"Thanks, be back in a minute." Kenny said

After Kenny had rounded the corner, Broadway asked Lexington what he thought of Kenny.

"He seems ok. He's not psychotic or possess any strange powers." Lexington said half in thought.

"I like him, he seems nice enough. A little more personable than Terry was, he's more like Brooklyn." Angela said.

"You think so?" Broadway asked.

Lexington was about to say something when a loud scream came from down the hallway.

Racing down the same hallway that Kenny had gone done not more than a moment before; Angela, Lexington, and Broadway found themselves facing two gargoyles locked in a fight. The first one, Kenny, had his back against the wall and was trying desperately to keep his opponent from reaching his throat.

The second gargoyle, the one trying to strangle Kenny, was female with red hair. Her skin was a light green color similar to that of Lexington's. She appeared about the same size as Angela, but with her wings flared in anger it was difficult to estimate her exact size. With her eyes glowing in anger, it was impossible to tell what color they were, but the way she was snarling left little doubt that she had a healthy set of teeth.

"Who the heck is that?" Angela asked.

"Never mind, just brake those two up." Lexington said as he attempted to intervene between the two.

Grabbing the female around the waist, Angela attempted to pull the two combatants apart with little success. However, Angela's tugging did allow Kenny to break free and retreat to a safe distance.

"Kenny what happened?" Broadway asked as he helped Angela to restrain the struggling gargoyle.

"I don't know. I opened the door to the bathroom and she was in there using it. I guess I startled her because she screamed. I shut the door and tried to apologize, but then she attacked me." Kenny answered.

"Lexington, Angela, Broadway. What is going on here and who is that?" Goliath asked as he pointed towards Kenny.

A couple of hours later…

"Ok, things have officially gone weird now." Kenny commented as he watched the Manhattan clan turn to stone as the sun rose over the horizon.

"I see you didn't know that the gargoyles had that ability." Xanatos said.

"No I didn't."

"I can see why, your not like most gargoyles."

"Not like most gargoyles? I don't even know what a "normal" gargoyle is supposed to be like. Especially since I've never been one before." Kenny said.

"That's why we want you to talk to this other gargoyle. Like you she is new to the gargoyle way of life." Xanatos said

"But she tried to kill me."

"True, but she is much calmer now."

"Even if she doesn't want to kill me, she might not want to talk to me."

"Well you can either try to talk to her or you can try to talk to the gargoyles." Xanatos said as he made a slight sweeping motion with his hand.

Looking at the clan as they sleep in their stone slumber, Kenny decided that Xanatos did have a good point.

"What? To busy running your business to spend an afternoon to make a new gargoyle feel welcome?" Kenny said sarcastically.

"Actually yes." Xanatos said with out missing a beat. "But not to worry, I have arranged for Owens to be at your service should you need anything today."

"Is he like Jeeves?" Kenny asked.

"Something like that." Xanatos said as he slowly opened the door in front of him.

Following behind him, Kenny found himself standing inside a large room that was full of couches and chairs. There were also several desks, small tables, bookshelves, a large stereo system, and a big screen TV. Sitting in the middle of this room on one of the couches was a red headed female gargoyle.

"Kenney, I would like to meet Tammy." Xanatos said. "Tammy, this is Kenney, a gargoyle just like you."

"Hello." Kenny said.

Ignoring his outstretched hand, Tammy stared hard at Kenny.

"I'm sorry if I startled you earlier." Kenny apologized.

"Hell of a way for me to meet the other gargoyles Mr. Xanatos." Tammy said.

"Believe me it was not my intention for us all to be introduced that way."

"Humpf, well try harder next time." Tammy said as she stood up and stretched. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starved. What is there to eat?"

"Ask the butler." Kenny said.

"There are a variety of items in the castle's kitchen which the staff will prepare for you." Owen Berrnett said.

Taken by surprise, Kenny stammered out, "What? Where did you come from, how did you sneak up on us like that?"

"Cool, he came out of no where, just like a magician." Tammy said with amusement as she watched Kenny's reaction.

An hour later, both Kenny and Tammy sat at a table in the courtyard of the castle enjoying breakfast.

"I haven't eaten this well in a while now." Kenny said.

"Me neither. My brother used to cook for us on Sundays, he made these great omelets." Tammy added.

"How many siblings did you have?"

"You mean do I have?"

"Have, had, its all the same, its not like they know who we are now."

"That's a cruel thing to say, I still have two brothers, two parents, and lots of other family out there." Tammy said defensively.

"I've got a brother out there too, but I know he sure doesn't know that I'm still alive. Both our past lives have been erased."

"No, not entirely. I still remember my past." As Tammy spoke a few tears ran down her face.

_Uh oh, now what have I done? _Kenny thought. _First I surprise her and she attacks me, and now less than six hours later I have her crying._

Luckily, for Kenny at that moment a butterfly flew landed in front of Tammy.

"Oh he's beautiful." Tammy said while wiping the tears from her eyes. As the butterfly began to fly away, Tammy stood up and began to merrily chase it.

"She certainly is in touch with her emotions." Owen said as he began to clear away the dirty dishes.

"Man, how do you do that? Do you have any idea how unnerving that is?" Kenny asked annoyed that yet again he had been taken by surprise.

October 9, 1996

Freezing at the sound of the vehicle coming his way, Brooklyn quickly dropped to the ground and hid in the tall grass. Leaving behind a trail in the early November frost that covered the ground, the old pickup truck came to a halt. Watching as three figures climbed out of the truck that had parked not more than a hundred meters from his location; Brooklyn decided that he would go the opposite direction. That was until he heard them mention something that gained his full attention.

"Come on Billy don't you want to see the gargoyle I found?" Asked a tall lanky kid of seventeen with freckles.

"No not really Frank. I could have gone to the movies with Sara tonight instead of stomping through old Mr. Peterson's fields just to see some gargoyle you "claim" to have seen." Answered Billy with little enthusiasm.

"So how come you're here with us instead of out at the movies with Sara?" Asked the shortest of the three.

"That's a good question Matt, how come Billy isn't out with Sara tonight." Frank asked as he stopped and turned to face his friend.

Grinning slightly as he walked up face to face with Frank, Billy replied. "Because her brother Ryan said he would kick my butt if he caught me making out with her again."

"That's awesome. You da man." Matt said in good cheer.

"No kidding, I guess we underestimated you Billy."

"So did Sara, till I showed her."

"Yeah right, I'll believe that when I see it." Snorted Matt.

"Suit your self." Billy said as he began to reach for his belt buckle.

"You do and it won't be Ryan kicking your butt tonight." Frank threatened good naturally.

His interest peaked at the mention of the word gargoyle; Brooklyn followed the three youths as they made their way across an open field that lead to a small stream. Sliding down the steep banks of the stream, Frank and company stepped under the small bridge that spanned the stream.

"Man, there's nothing here." Matt said dejectedly.

"Oh really?" Frank said as he turned on his flashlight. Almost instantly, the photons of light began to alternately be reflected or absorbed, depending on their wavelength, by the creature that lay on the ground in front of them.

"Holy spit, you weren't kidding." Billy said.

"Is it alive?" Asked Matt.

"I don't know." Answered Frank. "It was here earlier this afternoon, so if it is dead it couldn't have died that long ago.

"Lets take it back to town, I bet the city museum would pay good money for this thing." Billy said.

"But first we should make sure that it won't hurt us." Matt said as he began to lift a large rock with every intention of bashing in the head of the gargoyle.

Suddenly a low growling sound drew the attention of the trio.

"What was that?" Asked Billy in a worried voice.

"I don't know, but I'm making sure it didn't come from that thing." Matt said as he cocked his arm to throw the stone at the gargoyle in front of him.

Suddenly something blurred by and knocked both Matt and Frank on their butts.

"What the heck was that?" Billy asked suddenly very afraid.

"It was me." Brooklyn said as he raised his arms and wings in an attempt to make him appear larger and more threatening than he was.

Apparently it worked, as Billy soon left two things behind. The first was a small puddle where he had been standing; the second was a cloud of dust as he set new records for the quarter mile dash.

"Dddon'tt hhurt me." Frank stammered as he and Matt stood up again.

"Than leave, NOW!" Roared Brooklyn.

With in a matter of seconds both Matt and Frank were well on the way to breaking all speed records set by their friend not more than a minute ago.

Taking a minute to clam himself, Brooklyn picked up the dropped flashlight and shone it on the gargoyle. As Brooklyn approached the gargoyle on the ground, he first noticed the long hair, which made him guess it was a female. The second thing he noticed was how dirty she looked, almost as if she hadn't bothered with personal hygiene in about a month. The smell that came from her reinforced that theory, along with two other smells.

The first was the smell of cheap alcohol that seemed to come from every pore of her body, while the second smell was stronger, sharper, and slightly sweet. Brooklyn couldn't place it until he picked up the cigarette that was dangling from her lips. He had seen small tightly rolled things like this before back in New York. Shaking his head, Brooklyn crushed out the joint, returned to the still unconscious gargoyle and put her on across his shoulders.

October 10, 1996

"Who the hell are you?" Asked the female gargoyle as she awoke from her drunken stupor and laid eyes on Brooklyn.

"My name is Brooklyn."

The minutes slowly passed as the two sat in silence.

"Where did you come from? I thought I was the only gargoyle around." Amanda said.

"You were, but then I showed up. So I guess that kind of changes your assessment then doesn't it." Brooklyn said.

"Who are you? You must be some one that I know. Otherwise where would you have come from?"

"I'm from New York City."

"New York City. I don't know anyone in New York."

Again the minutes slowly slipped by as the two sat there and waited, until Brooklyn spoke.

"I've told you my name, what's yours?"

"Amanda."

"Nice to meet you Amanda."

"Why did you come here? And why are we in a cave? The last thing I remember was passing out under a bridge."

"You did. Fortunately, I was there to save you from being attacked, captured, or worse by some humans who had less than a friendly disposition towards gargoyles."

November 23, 1996

"Come on Broadway, why don't you want to go to the concert with me?" Angela asked.

"Because I just don't." Broadway said.

"Humpf. Fine then, be like that." Walking to the other side of the room, the female gargoyle stopped so that she was standing directly between Lexington and the television.

"How about you Lex? Would you like to go out on a date?" Angela asked as she put a hand on her hip.

"Um, I don't know."

"Why not, its not like anyone else is going out with me tonight."

"Still I think Broadway sort of has dibs."

"No, go ahead Lex. I won't stand in your way." Broadway said.

"Well I was looking forward to watching my new anime tonight." Lexington answered as he tried to look for a way to get himself out of the verbal crossfire.

"Oh come on Lex, it'll be fun." Angela teased as she let her tail slide across Lexington's legs.

"Ok, you guys convinced me." Lexington said as he stood up and began to follow Angela.

Landing in Central Park a short time later, Angela, Lexington, Kenny, and Tammy sat in a large tree as the out door concert began.

"Thank you for inviting us to come along with you." Tammy said as she sat down next to Lexington.

"No problem." Lexington grinned.

"How come Broadway didn't come along too?" Kenny asked.

"He just didn't want to." Angela said dryly.

"To bad, he's going to miss a great Tchaikovsky concert."

"Tchaikovsky. You mean this is a classical concert?" Tammy moaned.

"Yeah, no fair not telling us what kind of concert it was. I thought it would be a rock concert or something." Lexington said sounding equally disappointed.

"Hey if you don't like it then you two can leave and Angela and I will stay here and enjoy it." Kenny said.

"Sounds good to me. Come on Lex, let's go see if we can catch a movie or something." With that Tammy took to the air.

"What's bothering you Lexington?" Goliath asked the young gargoyle.

"It's Broadway and Angela, it just seems like they don't get along as well as they used to." Lexington confessed.

"Every relationship has difficulties. In time they will work things out."

"If you say so." Lexington said sounding less than convinced, but swallowing his comment that Goliath was probably the last person to be giving that kind of advice. "But both Angela and Kenny have been gone a long time."

"What do you mean, I thought you and Angela went to the concert with Tammy and Kenny?"

"We did at first. But when Tammy and I found out that it was a classical concert, we decided to leave. Angela and Kenny stayed behind for the concert, but it should have been over hours ago."

"Hmmm. I see."

Looking at his calendar, David Xanatos saw that it was almost December 1st. Which meant that in another day or two he would be flooded with reports from his vast financial empire about the previous month's earnings, and projections for the current month. Rubbing his chin in thought, Xanatos paged his faithful assistant.

"Owen, are we still able to track the location of Brooklyn?" David Xanatos asked.

"Yes sir, currently he is still in South Western Tennessee. He has been there for the past month now, there is the possibility that our tracker has malfunctioned and is sending inaccurate data."

"Yes that is a possibility, but something tells me that's not the case. I wonder what Brooklyn could have found that is so interesting?"

December 12, 1996

"Amanda, do you know where we are? Amanda? Where are you?" Looking around he finally spotted his companion as she was landing near a tree.

Following her to see just what was so interesting that she would take off on her own like that, Brooklyn soon landed where Amanda had. Looking upward, he saw that she had quickly climbed half way up the tree and was intently focused on something. Climbing to join her and to get a look for him as to what was just so interesting, the branch they both sat on gave a low creek and sank down a fair amount.

"Amanda. Amanda." Brooklyn called her name to no avail.

Following her gaze outward Brooklyn saw what she was so focused on, two people, a man and a boy, playing in the yard in front of a trailer home. The man was older, fifty-five maybe sixty, a bit over weight, balding, and looking quite the bit like a hick wearing his overalls. The boy was around ten years old, lean but active, his long sandy blonde hair gently swayed in the wind.

"Do you know who they are?" Brooklyn asked.

"Yes."

"Well who are they?"

"They are my family."

"Your family?"

Turning to look back at the two again, the young boy happened to turn around so that Brooklyn could see his whole face. In the front of the hair was a distinctive cowlick, his nose had a slight upturn look to it, and in between the two were a pair of green eyes. Brooklyn knew where he had seen these features before.

"He's your son isn't he?" Brooklyn asked.

"Was my son, now he is just another motherless child."

"What do you mean motherless? Your still alive, couldn't you still care for him?"

"No, it would be too difficult."

"How? Its not like you turn to stone during the day…"

"Trust me, it would not work." Amanda interrupted.

"Well at least he has a father to raise him."

"Lucky him." Amanda said bitterly as she turned and leapt in to the sky.

Brooklyn couldn't help but to stand there awestruck for several seconds before joining her.

"Amanda, Amanda, talk to me, what's wrong?" Brooklyn asked as he caught up to his companion.

Turning to face Brooklyn, Amanda had tears streaming down her face. "Its not fair, life is not fair." She sobbed.

"No, life is not fair. But I will be, I'm willing to listen if you're willing to talk."

Reaching out with her hand to take Brooklyn's own out stretched hand said more than any words she would have choked on at that moment. Slowly and gradually changing the direction of their flight, the two gargoyles simply enjoyed each other's company as they headed home for the night.

Wrapping a wing around Amanda as they entered the small cave that they had been living in for the past few weeks, Brooklyn bit back the questions he had so Amanda could open up when she was ready. Guiding her towards the pair of chairs they had, Brooklyn carefully set them a few feet apart, and slightly off center, so they could talk. After a few minutes with no response from Amanda, Brooklyn became bored and decided to make some hot chocolate to make use of his nervous energy.

Placing a cup in front of Amanda finally drew a response from her.

"Thank you Brooklyn." She smiled. "You're so sweet and thoughtful. That's why I feel comfortable around you."

"I always try to take care of the ones I care about." Brooklyn said.

"I guess I owe you an explanation for my behavior this evening."

"You don't need to tell me now, it can wait until your ready."

"The boy we saw is my son. The man is my father. I haven't seen them since I was changed almost six months ago. I don't even know if they know I am missing, all I know is that they are afraid of me in my current body."

"If all the records about you have been erased like you say, and others have said, then it is possible that their memory was erased too."

"Perhaps, but then why couldn't my memory have been erased too? Instead I have to remember all the times my father would be drunk, the times he would beat me, or molest me. I remember all the happiness I had from my son Johnny; he was the one thing I did that I had a choice over. Someone I could raise so that he would not be a loser. And now, now all that is lost to me. Now my son, my one source of pride and happiness is being raised by my father. My father, the biggest source of pain and hate in my life. I have the strength to kill him, and if I did then who would raise Johnny? Some foster family? It's not fair. Damn it! It's not fair!" Amanda screamed as tears ran down her checks.

His eyes wide with astonishment, Brooklyn was at a loss for words, instead all he did was wrap both an arm and a wing around Amanda as she shook with sobs.

"Its ok Amanda, cry all you want. I'm here, I'll take care of you." Brooklyn softly spoke in to her ear.

Yawning wide Amanda's eyes finally focused enough to take in her surroundings. The first thing they came across was Brooklyn, frozen in stone yet laying there looking at her. She didn't remember much of last night, she had stopped to look in on Johnny, and then Brooklyn had been there for her as she spilled her guts. Vaguely, she remembered going to bed, but that was all.

Looking at her watch Amanda saw she had a few hours until it would be night_. Good, I can make use of this time then_ Amanda thought.

With the sun disappearing beneath the horizon, a new day began for Brooklyn as he awoke from his stone slumber. But something was different from when he went to sleep; he was the only one on the pile of blankets and sheets that passed for a bed that he and Amanda shared. Plus there was the smell of hot food in the air coming from behind him.

"Well good morning there handsome." Amanda said as she placed a couple of plates on the makeshift table they had. "Breakfast is almost ready, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. I would ask how you're feeling, but I guess that is an obvious answer."

After eating, the two young gargoyles decided to go for a walk through the woods. Because neither one spoke as they walked hand in hand, the sound of the night came through loudly. CTerryets chirping, animals burrowing, insects buzzing, deer foraging, and guns clicking as rounds were being chambered.

A shot rang out somewhere in the forest and Amanda staggered and then fell to her knees before Brooklyn caught her.

"Amanda, Amanda, are you ok?" Even as Brooklyn asked he could see that she wasn't, the wound was high in her chest and there was a lot of blood everywhere.

"Brooklyn my sweet, always caring."

"Shhh, don't speak, save your strength."

Shaking her head Amanda indicated that she knew the end was near. "Its ok Brooklyn, I know I'm about to die."

"Don't say that Amanda, I'll take care of you."

Placing a finger on his lips to quiet him, Amanda continued "Brooklyn, do you know what I liked about you the most? It was the fact that you accepted me as I am, even when you first meet me and I was drunk, dirty, and a pitiful sight. No one else except Johnny has ever done that. That is why I love you, you have shown me unconditional love." As she spoke her eyesight became blurry with tears.

"I know, Amanda, I love you too. And I always will in my heart."

Leaning down, Brooklyn kissed Amanda for the last time in life but not in love.

Noisily crashing through the thicket a short time later, two hunters came out in to the open.

"Hey bubba did you see me hit the deer? Put the bullet right in its neck, we won't have to chase it for long before it dies."

Eyes glowing with anger, Brooklyn jumped upon the hunters. Plunging his hand in to the abdomen of one, he pulled it out in an upward motion. The bloody trail of intestine that came out ensured that the end would come quickly. Turning to face the other human, Brooklyn grabbed the man's throat and squeezed it until a snapping sound was heard. Releasing the now limp body, Brooklyn stood there for a minute trying to slow his breathing.

_What have I done? I've killed humans; I've killed innocent people. I'm no better than Demona._ Brooklyn thought with disgust.

A short time later, standing before the makeshift grave that he had dug for Amanda, Brooklyn wept for her one last time. _To bad it had to be now, in another couple of weeks it would have been Christmas, and we both would have had something special to celebrate_, Brooklyn thought sadly. Standing up and looking at the moon, he realized that there were only a couple of hours until daylight. Not wanting to spend the day in the cave, Brooklyn decided to collect just a few things before continuing his trek westward.

December 22, 1996

"Hey Athena, I heard a rumor that Terry is planning something special for us for Christmas. Do you know anything about it?" Hannibal asked his partner as the two passed the time during their guard shift.

"I've heard some rumors, but why are you asking me?" She replied.

"Oh come on, like Terry doesn't tell you things."

"What? Are you implying that I get special privileges him?"

"I didn't say that, only that other than Harper, he spends the most time with you."

"That's because he thinks I'm a good conversationalist."

"So what do you talk about in your conversations then?" Hannibal said with a smirk on his face.

"About ways that we can make your life as miserable as possible."

"Ah ha, I see. A likely story."

Athena simply gave Hannibal a universal gesture that let him know how she felt about the conversation.

"Is that a threat or promise?" Hannibal chuckled.

Suddenly his attention was drawn towards something else.

"Look up there" He said to Athena.

"It looks like a gargoyle."

"Yeah I know, but no one is supposed to be coming this way tonight. And Harper did say that this site was to be well protected while the weapons evaluation is going on."

"Your right, I guess we had better go and investigate then."

Terry stood with his arms crossed as he waited for the van to arrive with Athena, Hannibal and whomever this unknown gargoyle was that they had captured. About an hour ago he had received a call from the weapons evaluation complex that there was some kind of disturbance. Now he waited, and silently worried that neither Athena nor Hannibal had been hurt. Although he looked calm, the rhythmic tapping of his tail was the only thing that betrayed this outward appearance.

Finally the van arrived and backed up so the doors were facing him. When they opened out came Hannibal and Athena, neither one looking much worse for the wear. Terry let out a slight sigh of relief at this sight, but between them they carried a stretcher with a gargoyle on it.

Taking a closer look at the unmoving body in the stretcher, Terry recognized who it was, Brooklyn.

"Take him to my quarters."

"But shouldn't we take him to the aid clinic?"

"That won't be needed. Once day light comes he will turn to stone and that will heal all of his wounds."

"How do you know that?" Athena asked.

"Remember I had a life before I meet you guys."

Awaking from his stone sleep, Brooklyn found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. Lifting his body to a sitting position, Brooklyn realized that he was lying on a bed.

_Now how did I get here? _He wondered, the last thing he remembered was being in a fight with a pair of gargoyles. Hearing the sound of a doorknob being turned, Brooklyn turned his attention to the now opening door and watched in surprise as Terry walked in.

"Good to see that you're awake Brooklyn." Terry said.

"Good to see you too. I assume your going to tell me where we are and how I got here, or do we get to play twenty questions."

"Same old Brooklyn. For your first question, you are in my room at the training complex the Roughwings stay at. As for your second question, you were brought here last night so you could receive medical attention. Which of coarse you didn't need, but they didn't know that at the time."

"Who is this they you keep speaking of, and who are the Roughwings"?

"The they I keep referring to are members of the Roughwings, they are my clan." Terry explained.

"Your clan?" Brooklyn asked in surprise. "When you left New York, you still didn't want to admit that you were a gargoyle, and now you have a clan of your own."

"I guess a lot can happen in six months."

"You can say that again."

Indicating for Brooklyn to follow him, Terry said, "As long as you're here, I'll give you the nickel tour."

As they walked through the large complex that served as the training/ living are for the Roughwings, the two friends exchanged stories of the how's and why's that fate had brought them back together. Yawning, Terry glanced at a clock and saw it was almost six in the mourning.

"I didn't realize it was so late, I had better get some sleep for tomorrow. I'll take you to the room we set aside for you. By the way your stuff is already there too."

"Thanks Terry. Even though I would have liked for you to stay with us in Manhattan, it looks as though you are doing pretty well on your own. You have a clan, and a nice place to stay." Walking in to the room that had been set-aside for him, Brooklyn stopped, turned, and asked the question that had suddenly popped in to his head.

"By the way, just who pays for all this stu…" The rest of his sentence cut off as he turned to stone.

Sighing, Terry knew that sooner or later he was going to have to tell Brooklyn the truth, but for now he had dodged the bullet.

The next evening, the Roughwings were all gathered in a large room that had several small tables along the walls and a large round table in the center. On all the small tables were large amounts of food, turkey, duck, roast beef, ham, potatoes that were prepared in four different ways, enough rolls to feed thirty people, twelve different kinds of fruits and another twelve different kinds of vegetables. On the round table were seven sets of plates, silverware, and drinking glasses.

"Seven places, I wonder who the extra guest is?" Duke wondered out loud.

"Probably Demona, heck she paid for this so I bet she wanted to join us." Machiavelli answered.

"Come on Harper, you can tell us, who is it?" Hannibal asked.

"Sorry guys, but I'm in the dark about this one too."

Just then the door opened and in walked two gargoyles.

"Good everyone is here. Before we get started I would like to make an introduction." With that Terry indicated towards Brooklyn. "Roughwings, this is Brooklyn, he's from New York. I know some of you have met all ready but just consider this a formal introduction. Brooklyn, meet Harper, Machiavelli, Hannibal, Duke, and Athena."

During dinner there was much eating, drinking, conversation, and merriment from all. Harper showed off his musical skills by playing his flute, while the rest of the clan showed their lack of singing skills as Terry lead them in a badly mangled iteration of Jingle Bells. Machiavell was freely letting the jokes fly as Duke played with his food by juggling several rolls in the air while Hannibal read some of his poetry. Everyone that is, except for Brooklyn. He spent most of the night in thought, and stealing glances at Athena.

"You seem to be spending a lot of time looking at Athena." Harper leaned over and whispered to Brooklyn. "You know you might have more success if you actually talked to her."

"She just reminds me of someone."

"Well then, you must be a lucky guy then." Harper said with a wink.

"Brooklyn, have you met the other gargoyles yet?" Machiavelli asked casually.

"No, what other gargoyles? Just how many of you guys are there?" Brooklyn's interest now peaked.

"Aries, Ivan, Genghis, and our boss Demona. Maybe you can get a job from her like the rest of us."

Shooting Terry a dirty look, Brooklyn loudly slammed his glass on the table. "What the hell are you thinking Terry? You're working for Demona. How long were you planning on keeping that from me?" Brooklyn demanded.

"We only work for her as advisors and security. That's it." Terry said.

"Advisors, what do you advisor her about? Better ways to kill people. I thought you were a good guy, just a little miss understood. Guess I was wrong."

"That's not fair Brooklyn. Just because I work for Demona doesn't mean I'm at her beck and call. Other wise I would have told her about you."

"Like that means anything. Sooner or later she will find out that I'm here. Thanks for helping me Terry, but come tomorrow night I intend to leave. I can't stand to be in the same building as her." Brooklyn said as he tossed his napkin on his plate and walked out of the room.

"Brooklyn wait." Terry said as he began to stand up.

"No wait. He doesn't want to talk to you Terry. Athena, go and talk to him, and keep an eye on him." Harper said quickly.

"I don't get it. What was that all about?" Duke asked.

"Demona has sworn to destroy Brooklyn and his clan. They have a history together, little of it good." Terry answered. _But he sure seemed a lot more venomous this time. I wonder what could have happened over the past few months._

"Brooklyn are you ok?" Athena asked as she almost jogged to match Brooklyn's rapid stride.

"What do you think?" Was his cold reply.

"I can see your hurt. But that's no reason to take it out on Terry, he's just doing what he thought was best."

"What he thought was best? What a joke, why the hell is he here working for Demona then? That's not what is best. He's just helping her to kill all humans in the name of gargoyles."

"You're not serious are you?"

"As a heartattack."

"But Terry would never do anything like that. He wouldn't go around killing people for no reason at all."

"Then why is he involved with Demaona?"

"Because of us."

Now it Brooklyn's turn to be confused. "What do you mean by that?"

"About three months ago Terry became our leader and faced a real desperate situation. We were being hunted down by some elite military units and were out of supplies. Terry decided that the best way for us to have shelter, medical supplies, and to be safe was to find someone who was rich enough they could provide those things. Demona happened to be the first one he ran in to. You see, he didn't do it because of any ideals that he has or any ideals that Demona has, he simply did it for us."

"I didn't realize that."

"Well you didn't give him the chance to explain."

"Yeah your right Amanda." Brooklyn said as he lowered his head.

"Who is Amanda?"

Snapping his head up, Brooklyn stammered out an apoligze. "Sorry about that. I was thinking of somebody else."

"Well who was she?" Athena asked again.

"She was someone I cared a great deal about."

"I see, what did she look like?"

"A lot like you, but she had longer hair and green eyes."

"Well I guess I should be flattered that you called me by her name then." Athena said as she laid a hand on one of Brooklyn's arms. "What happened between you two then?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said you cared a great deal about her. Implying a past tense, unless I am mistaken."

"No you're not mistaken. I would just rather not talk about it."

"Ok, then shall we return to dinner? I bet everyone else is still there." Athena said while offering her arm.

"Sure, why not. I do owe Terry an apology."

"There you go, that's the sprit, I'll even be your date for the night then." _Where did that come from?_ Athena thought, _It must be the wine starting to talk._

Halfway to their destination, Brooklyn began to hesitate.

"What's the matter Brooklyn?" Athena asked.

"I just don't feel like being with a crowd tonight. And I don't think I can talk to Terry right now, I should wait a until tomorrow when I am more collected."

"Ok. What would you like to do then?"

"Well since I don't know my way around here I will need an escort to my quarters. Do you know where I can find one?" Brooklyn said with a small grin.

"I'm not sure, maybe if you ask nicely one will appear."

A short time later, the two of them stood in front of Brooklyn's quarters.

"Thank you for putting up with me tonight." Brooklyn thanked his escort.

"No problem. Now can I ask you a favor? Can I use your bathroom, I really got to go." Athena almost pleaded.

Walking out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Athena happened to pass by a small picture sitting on a table. Picking it up she looked at it and wondered.

"Brooklyn, is this a photo of Amanda?"

"Yes it is."

"When was it taken?"

"Not long before she…. Not long ago."

"Brooklyn, you're crying." Athena said with surprise as she touched a teardrop that ran down his face. "I thought you would be more like Terry, he rarely shows emotion like that. I can see why Amanda would have fallen for you." As she spoke, Athena laid a hand on the side of his face.

"It was so unfair the way she was taken from me." Brooklyn began to sob. "We were just walking in the woods when she was shot by some hunters."

Wrapping her arms around him, Athena held Brooklyn as he cried and told his sad tell.

"Duke, Hannibal make sure that Mach gets back to his quarters ok, he's had a little to much to drink." Harper said.

"I don't have to much drink. I make it." Machiavelli slurred.

"Sure you can son, but what if Duke can't make it. Better to go in buddy teams."

"Any word on Athena or Brooklyn?" Terry asked his friend after Machivalli and his escorts had left.

"Nope, not a peep. Do you want me to go find them?"

"No. Athena is a smart girl, she can handle anything that might come up."

"That's what was me worried." Harper muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I will see you in the morning then, good night."

"Good night." Terry responded before deciding to follow up on a hunch.

Walking a nice slow and leisurely pace gave Terry time to organize his thoughts. He was going to apologize to Brooklyn for not being honest with him, and to let him know that at least on his part there was no bad blood between them. Finally arriving at the private quarters of his Roughwings, Terry made his way down to the end of the hallway. Standing before Brooklyn's temporary quarters, Terry saw that the door was open. Sticking his head in to look around, he found his two lost gargoyles. One of them, Brooklyn, was lying in bed and asleep. The other, Athena, was gently pulling a blanket over Brooklyn.

_Wow, they sure moved fast. I'm going to have to ask them about this tomorrow._ Terry thought with amusement as he backed away and left them in peace.


End file.
